State Democrats are leading on abortion policy. D.C. Democrats don’t want to get left behind.

WASHINGTON — After several successful state efforts to codify abortion access, Democrats are marking the 51st anniversary of the defunct Roe v. Wade ruling with an all-out reproductive freedom campaign — in an election year when abortion rights could once again help determine the balance of power in Washington.

Senate Democrats held a briefing on abortion access Wednesday focusing on the impact of state abortion bans. More than half of the Democratic caucus, including Majority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York, heard from and questioned medical professionals and experts.

“I was thrilled to be pregnant for the fifth time,” said Dr. Austin Dennard, a Texas OB-GYN and plaintiff in a lawsuit brought against the state by people denied abortions since the Dobbs decision. “Then, a routine ultrasound showed devastating — the brain and skull had not formed. It was anencephaly. The most severe neural tube diagnosis. Although relatively rare, this is fatal,” she said, holding back tears.

Vice President Kamala Harris is gearing up for a national tour next week to champion the issue of abortion, a sign of how the Biden campaign plans to put a big focus on reproductive access and efforts to restrict abortion in Republican state legislatures.

And while Democrats in Washington are largely stuck on the issue in the face of a GOP-controlled House and a 60-vote threshold to overcome filibusters in the Senate, they are looking to the success of abortion-rights advocates in the states as a model for how they can better message, campaign and, they hope, eventually legislate on the issue.

“If this is a silent story that women don’t talk about, which has been our past, then women won’t know that they need to go out and fight for their rights,”