Abortion, IVF focus of state House race in Ala.

Democrat Marilyn Lands won a contentious special election for a state House seat in deep-red Alabama on Tuesday night. The results could signal the dominant role of abortion and in vitro fertilization in elections across the country in 2024.

Lands, a licensed professional counselor, beat Republican Teddy Powell, a city council member, in the race for a seat in Alabama’s statehouse that was left vacant after former Republican Rep. David Cole pleaded guilty to voter fraud. Lands ran against Cole in 2022 for the 10th District seat, which covers an area around Huntsville, but lost by 7 points.

While her win won’t change the makeup of the heavily Republican Alabama legislature, it does showcase the enormous impact reproductive issues, such as abortion and in vitro fertilization, could have down the ballot this fall.

The election was one of the first tests of how Alabama voters felt about the state court’s February ruling, which threatened access to IVF when it found that frozen embryos were legally considered children. The state’s legislature weighed in on the issue in early March with a law attempting to protect IVF providers and patients from prosecution.

Alabama is also one of several states where a strict abortion ban went into effect after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022.

The Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee, an organization that works to elect Democrats to statehouses, saw the 10th District race as a test of the influence reproductive issues could have on swing voters across the country in 2024.

Lands focused her campaign heavily on protecting abortion and IVF access.

In a TV ad, Lands shared her experience getting an abortion for a “nonviable” pregnancy years ago with an Alabama woman who recently faced a similar situation but had to travel out of state to receive the procedure because of the state’s abortion ban after the Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization decision.

Lands argued that her state’s new law that aimed to protect IVF providers and patients from prosecution fell short and did not address the root concerns with the court’s decision.

The approach ultimately proved successful against Powell, who campaigned mainly on infrastructure and the economy.

While Powell expressed support for IVF access, he argued that it was different from abortion. He also criticized Lands for defining the 10th District race around reproductive issues.

“I’m not sure any race can or should be about a single issue,” he told USA TODAY. “Our district has many challenges that we’re facing that aren’t related at all to this specific issue.”

The race could be a microcosm for broader 2024 election trends. Republican candidates across the country, including presumptive GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump, are campaigning on issues such as immigration and the economy. They believe that inflation and national security are among the most salient issues for voters this year.

Democrats, meanwhile, see abortion as a key motivating issue for voters, based on a string of ballot measure successes since the 2022 midterms.

The Alabama race is among the first data points this year signaling which issues have the most impact. And the results nod in favor of Democrats.