The Biden-Harris Administration is making it clear that the backs of their bid for reelection is built on restoring Roe v. Wade, attempting to appeal to the 18% of voters who told NBC News that abortion was their top issue in the upcoming election in a Nov. 2023 survey.

Yesterday Biden issued an invitation to Texas mom Kate Cox to attend the State of Union Address in March. Cox made headlines after being forced to flee the state to seek abortion to terminate her life-threatening pregnancy, and is the first pregnant adult to sue for the right to have an abortion since Roe was enacted, according to the Texas Tribune.

We’ve already seen reproductive rights winning state elections. The results of Ohio’s November primary, in which voters passed a constitutional amendment to protect abortion and reproductive freedom, has set off a wave of other states looking to do the same, including Florida, Colorado, and Nevada.

With his big wins in the Iowa caucus and New Hampshire primary, there’s a strong possibility of a rematch between Biden and Trump at the polls this year, that Americans do not want to see, according to Reuters, and the campaign is using that to further push their appeal to voters who care about reproductive rights.

“A vote for Joe Biden and Kamala Harris is a vote to restore Roe, and a vote for Donald Trump is a vote to ban abortion across the country,” Julie Chavez Rodriguez, Biden’s campaign manager said in a statement. “These are the stakes in 2024.”

But is the president’s campaign giving the people what they want? This week activists and reproductive justice supporters expressed on Twitter their views of the campaign, questioning why the president didn’t push to restore Roe sooner in his presidency and stating that Roe does not offer enough protection.

“Most reproductive rights & justice orgs put out messaging yesterday saying Roe was never enough + we deserve more, and yet the Biden administration held an event tonight w/ the phrase “Restore Roe” in huge letters. Their messaging on abortion is consistently a slap in the face,” twitter user @assidyclark wrote.

The president’s website does not lay out specific policies or initiatives he plans to push forward if reelected, but voters have vocalized points they want to see in the next leader of our country. These are three things the Biden Administration is missing:

1. Reproductive protection that encompasses more than just abortion

Roe v. Wade offered constitutional protection of abortion for almost 50 years, but it was not an all-encompassing policy, only allowing abortion to the point of viability. Renee Bracey Sherman, founder and co-executive director of We Testify, points out that many of the abortion stories Biden has openly discussed would not be protected under Roe.

“They are later abortion stories of people who had some sort of health indication during their pregnancy… So when he’s saying restore Roe, but then also lifting up later [term] abortion stories, does he actually know that the thing he’s advocating for may not actually help the people, the types of stories that he likes?” she said.

Though under Roe abortion was legal, it wasn’t accessible for everyone. In 2018, a report by Advancing New Standards In Reproductive Health found that 27 cities throughout the country were considered abortion deserts, in which people seeking abortions would need to travel 100 or more miles to reach a clinic. Kentucky, Mississippi, Missouri, West Virginia, North and South Dakota only had one abortion facility in their state at the time of the study.

Monica Simpson, the executive director of SisterSong, touched on the issue of accessibility during a 2022 Abortion Is Essential to Democracy event.

“When we only think about having the right to something, but not having access, then do we really have that right? And that’s what we see with Roe. We still have some states that only have one abortion clinic, like Mississippi, like Kentucky. Are we thinking about the fact that there’s a pay gap, low wages, folks not even getting what they need? So economic justice is an issue. Maternal mortality is an issue, said Simpson.

Especially for women and birthing people of color, this was never enough. And ensuring protection and positive health outcomes goes beyond a single policy.

“Roe was not a north star in and of itself. And it is not mutually exclusive to talk about the importance of Roe, without also talking about who’s left behind. It’s like thinking about the 19th Amendment and voting rights… If Black people will still have to be pummeled, people murdered to attain this voting right, then for some it’s more illusory than real. So, we can hold both. We have to—and at the same time,” said Chancellor’s Professor of Law at the University of California, Irvine Michele Bratcher Goodwin in an April 2022 Brennan Center for Justice event.

Beulah Osueke, Interim Executive Director of New Voices for Reproductive Justice spoke to Reckon about the importance of transformative reproductive care, a holistic approach that encompasses other disparities that can impact one’s health.

“Transformative reproductive care is culturally relevant and responsive. It focuses on bodily autonomy and ensuring that birthing people understand all of their options, regardless of race, class, location, etc.” said Osueke, adding that it goes beyond birth, and includes postnatal, mental health, abortion, trauma-informed medical wellness staff and more to impact the totality of a person’s wellness.

The disparities impacted communities of color go beyond access to abortion. The American Public Health Association has labeled structural racism as a public health crisis that fails Black, Indigenous and Latino communities.

“When you look at neighborhoods that are predominately Black and brown… A lot of times, there are buildings and waste landfills that are closer to our neighborhoods. So those are the environments that our kids are growing up in, those environments that we’re seeing, but we’re told to see it as an equal playing field, right?” said Osueke.

Osueke explained that through transformative reproductive care, all social determinants of health are recognized, which has led to New Voices including environmental justice work in their focus.

2. The campaign is missing the word “abortion”

According to abortion advocates and political strategists, the word abortion has been treated as the “He Who Must Not Be Named” of American politics, prompting We Testify to launch a Did Biden Say Abortion Yet? campaign following the president’s initial public uses of the word after taking office in 2021.

“After 468 days in office, [he] said the word abortion, once, after the leaked Supreme Court draft indicated that the justices are ready to overturn Roe v. Wade,” reads the website.

The president has continued to face criticism for his lack of using the word abortion, using terms like “reproductive health” or “access to choice,” instead.

At a fundraiser in June, the president responded to criticism, chalking his word choice up to his religious views.

“I’m a practicing Catholic. I’m not big on abortion,” he said. “But guess what? Roe v. Wade got it right.”

Abortion advocates say that referring to abortion through euphemism further stigmatizes the word, and when using gendered terms like “women’s healthcare” isolates trans, non-binary, and gender nonconforming individuals through erassure.

3. Actionable steps to help Palestinians

The escalation of violence since the Oct. 7 Hamas-Israel attack has been called a humanitarian catastrophe by the International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF). An estimated 1.9 million people are displaced, 25,000 Palestinians have died in Gaza, and those remaining in the area face severe food, water and healthcare shortages. Women and birthing people face additional health concerns without access to menstrual products, safe places to give birth, and a miscarriage rate that is up 300%, according to Jezebel.

In November, the House of Representatives passed a plan to provide $14.5 billion in military aid to Israel, continuing the decades-long relationship between the two governments. The Council on Foreign Relations estimates that the U.S. has given Israel $300 billion over the years, which has been gained

On Tuesday, protesters interrupted the president’s speech at a rally in Virginia over a dozen times, according to NBC News. March on the DNC – a coalition of organizations in Chicago including the U.S. Palestinian Community Network and Black Lives Matter Chicago – is already planning a protest focused on Gaza, mass incarceration and other issues of oppression ahead of the Democratic National Convention taking place in Chicago in August.

Biden has continuously been urged to demand a ceasefire in the Israel-Gaza conflict and is now being sued by a group of civil rights groups for violating international and federal law and failing to prevent genocide, according to an article just published by the Independent.

“Who gives a fuck about the right to abortion. If your entire family line is being killed,” said Bracey Sherman. “That puts stress on people who are pregnant emotionally, physically. It’s exhausting.”

About 61% of voters want a permanent ceasefire in Gaza, according to polling conducted by Data for Progress December.

Advocates are pushing for widespread abortion protection for all birthing people, that is not defined by where a person lives, their race, documentation status – or the vague language used in laws that are meant to protect them.

“Reproductive rights in particular needs to reckon with the fact that legislative wins and losses are not the sum total of the fight for reproductive liberation. Brittany Watts was arrested in Ohio for disposing of her fetal remains because doctors refused to provide her with the medical care that she needed…” said Osueke. “So while our victory in November [in Ohio] is a win, we need to focus on Black birthing people that are getting lost in the margins because of timing or the subjective application of laws based on county or city or municipality, as well as the intersections of race and sexuality.”

Bracey Sherman shared with Reckon her frustration with the seemingly empty promise of the Restore Roe campaign.

“I hope we get to a point in politics where abortion as an issue, and in particular people who have abortions, are not used as political props in exchange for votes and are actually [seen as] human beings in need of healthcare who are taken seriously and engaged in a serious way,” said Bracey Sherman.