How Democrats can win the abortion war: Talk about Roe's restrictions as well as rights

I’m a liberal Democrat, and I’m a strong supporter of abortion rights. But I also support restrictions on the procedure.

You know, like the ones allowed by Roe v. Wade.

If you listened to our Republican opponents during the past few weeks, when Alabama all but prohibited abortion and several other states banned it after aheartbeat is detected, you might think that we Democrats want it to be entirely unregulated. We’re allegedly “the party of death,” ready and eager to protect “infanticide” at all costs.

That’s a lie, of course, but we’ve done a very poor job of correcting it. It won’t do to reply that late-term abortions are exceedingly rare, and that no mother in her right mind wants to execute her baby, which have been the most common Democratic refrains.

Nor will it suffice to say we stand in defense of Roe v. Wade, the Supreme Court's landmark 1973 decision on abortion. Just saying “I support Roe” reinforces another false narrative of our foes: that Roe, like its decadent Democratic advocates, protects abortion in each and every case.