(The Center Square) – Michigan congressional candidate Emily Busch is taking an unorthodox approach in her most recent campaign ad.
In a spot released earlier this week, Busch talks about her experience getting an abortion her freshman year of college, and how other young women today do not have the same option she did more than 30 years ago.
“At the end of the day, I had a choice. But across this country, too many women don’t have that choice,” Busch says in her video. “We are somehow going backwards. Nineteen-year-old girls have less rights than I did 33 years ago.”
Busch is not the first in politics to share such a personal story. Southern state representatives Marilyn Lands, D-Ala., and Gloria Johnson, D-Tenn., both recalled their medically necessary terminations back in 2022.
Candidate for the Tennessee state House Allie Phillips also has campaigned on her medical-related abortion. Eva Burch, an Arizona state senator, announced on the legislative floor that she would be having an abortion, while U.S. Rep. Cori Bush, D-Mo., has mentioned her termination due to sexual assault. Even Amy Brown, the wife of a Nevada Republican running for Senate, said she had an abortion earlier in life.
The Democratic candidate uses her experience to counter incumbent Congressman John James, R-Shelby Township. Busch says in the ad that James is against all forms of abortion, with no exceptions. However, in the last year, James did confirm there should be special considerations for rape, incest and when the mother’s life is put on the line.
In a ballot measure last year, Michigan guaranteed the right to abortion in response to the U.S. Supreme Court decision overturning Roe v. Wade. While this guarantees some form of access to abortion, it does not guarantee against certain restrictions.
Busch also attacks Democratic frontrunner Carl Marlinga, a former Macomb County judge, for his Catholic anti-abortion stance. However, in recent years he has also affirmed the decision is a private one.
Busch, Marlinga, financial planner Diane Young and state Board of Education member Tiffany Tilley are all competing for the Democratic nomination to face incumbent John James this November.
