Joe Biden and Kamala Harris celebrated what would have been the 51st anniversary of Roe v. Wade in late January their first campaign event of 2024. The Restore Roe rally in northern Virginia made it clear that the Biden/Harris ticket will center abortion rights in the reelection campaign. The theater was filled with the presidents supporters and leadership from national reproductive rights organizations who have endorsed him, including Planned Parenthood, the National Organization for Women and Reproductive Freedom for All.

Only a few minutes into Bidens speech, several protesters interrupted, calling for a cease-fire in Israels U.S.-backed military operation in Gaza , which has killed more than 28,000 Palestinians and set off a maternal and reproductive health crisis.

The president was interrupted over a dozen times as security struggled to wrangle protesters who were screaming Genocide Joe! and demanding a cease-fire. Hundreds of Biden supporters tried to drown out the protesters by clapping and chanting, Four more years!

Israel kills two mothers every hour in Gaza! Cease-fire now! End the genocide! one protester yelled at Biden, who was standing on stage in front of a massive Restore Roe banner and flanked by supporters holding Defend choice signs.

A video of the event shows Alexis McGill Johnson, the president of the Planned Parenthood Federation of America, clad in her trademark hot-pink pantsuit, standing up and chanting Four more years! as security dragged the shouting protester out.

It was a real-time illustration of the growing rift in the reproductive rights movement during an election year that will determine the future of reproductive health in the U.S.

No One Is Making The Connection

Biden has seemingly embraced abortion rights, a pivotal issue for Democrats, and earned an extremely early endorsement from national reproductive rights groups. Despite the president making abortion rights a pillar of his campaign, Biden is generally reluctant to talk about abortion, saying things like Im not big on abortion and, more recently, I dont want abortion on demand . When it comes to abortion care, many who work for reproductive justice believe that the president is a lukewarm advocate at best.

Now workers are deeply concerned that Bidens administration is contributing to a maternal and reproductive health crisis in Gaza through its aid to Israel.

Gaza is home to about 55,000 women who are currently pregnant, according to a recent report. Theres been a 300% increase in pregnancy loss due to the lack of neonatal and maternal health care since the conflict began five months ago. Most women are giving birth in crowded tents or on the streets because theres no ambulance or car to take them to a hospital. There have been several reports of women undergoing C-sections without anesthesia or properly sanitized medical tools, leading to wound infections.

Basic prenatal care, such as treating anemia, is nonexistent, causing more women to die during childbirth and more babies born prematurely, many of whom die without access to hospital incubators. Food shortages are leaving pregnant women, new mothers and newborns malnourished. And a lack of menstrual hygiene products has caused an increase in infections in women and girls.

No one is making the connection that theres a huge repro genocide happening in Gaza that we are funding, and the big repro organizations that are endorsing him are pretending like its not happening, one leader who has met with the Biden administration on abortion issues told HuffPost. Most of the workers who spoke with HuffPost asked to remain anonymous for fear of retaliation from their employers or others in the reproductive rights field.

HuffPost spoke with over a dozen people who work for reproductive justice causes including current Planned Parenthood employees, legal experts, nurse midwives, abortion fund workers and clinic staffers from across the country who say that Bidens unwavering support for Israel has fractured the movement. The rift has left those who support Palestinians to feel ostracized by the larger reproductive rights groups and questioning whether they can vote for Biden in November. They also fear retaliation.

All of the workers said that they cannot ignore how their reproductive justice work in the U.S. ties into the reproductive health crisis happening in Gaza, especially when the U.S. is actively involved in the conflict.

Many of the workers stressed that although abortion access is critically important, its part of the larger reproductive justice framework that includes the right to choose when and how to have a child and the right to raise that child in a safe environment.

Denying a woman dignified health care in birth is such a huge part of reproductive justice. How can you not see that this is the same thing? Allie Felker, a stillbirth prevention advocate whose first child was stillborn, told HuffPost. Theres so much more to reproductive justice than just having access to abortions.

The workers tell HuffPost they cannot in good conscience vote for Biden in the 2024 election given his ardent support for Israel. Nearly every worker, including those at Planned Parenthood, said they wished big reproductive rights organizations, which have the ability to endorse and help fund presidential candidates, had used their political power to demand a Democratic candidate that was a stronger advocate for abortion rights.

Theres so much you can do in 10 months to make Biden a better candidate, and instead of doing that, youre yelling at people like me who have been doing the hard work for a long time, one abortion fund worker from the South told HuffPost. Youre telling me I should forget about all these bad things hes done because it could be worse, instead of asking the person who could change things to change them.