After unexpected midterm losses and voters in traditionally red states that have rejected strict abortion bans, the Republican Party will seemingly settle around a “mainstream” compromise.
Since Roe v. Wade was overturned by the Supreme Court last year, voters have repeatedly rejected more extreme abortion restrictions, including major upsets in states like Kentucky and Kansas.
During the 2022 midterms, Democrat candidates in competitive races ended with clear victories after making abortion rights a central issue in their election. The results were widely interpreted as a warning sign to Republicans for 2024.
As a result, according to professor of law Mary Ziegler, Republicans are looking to revamp their strategy.
“There are Republicans who are looking at this and saying we can’t just cater to the antiabortion and the primary voter because there’s a lot of voters now who care about abortion,” she said. “It may actually backfire on us.”
Public Opinion is Moderate
While the loudest pro-abortion groups and progressive Democrats demand unfettered access to abortion, public opinion is much more tempered.
A Fox News poll from April shows 54% of registered voters nationally support a 15-week abortion ban with exceptions for medical emergencies.
An AP poll showed 57% support for banning abortion in the second trimester, which begins at about 14 weeks.
The second trimester is also the line for most European countries, which Democrats constantly look to for social policy guidance.
“We can’t live at the extremes,” North Carolina Sen. Amy Galey (R) said in an interview. “As a country, we can find a way to take a difficult issue and resolve it without a huge amount of acrimony and viciousness.”
The state is one of two with conservative legislatures that have recently passed more moderate 12-week bans after near-total bans were blocked by party infighting.
The other, Nebraska, was forced to reckon with its position after 80-year-old Senator Merv Riepe, a longtime Republican, was the voice that tanked the legislature’s effort to ban nearly all abortions.
South Carolina, which saw its female GOP senators stand against a near-total ban, will begin debating a 12-week vs 6-week ban this week.
The compromise is not sitting well with all pro-life groups, but some are slowly getting on board.
“Our focus is on being as aggressive as we can in finding consensus to protect as many babies and serve as many moms as possible as quickly as we can,” said Stephen Billy, vice president of state affairs at Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America.
“In Nebraska and in North Carolina, with their bills, that’s exactly what’s happening.”
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It’s up to the individual state to make a decision about abortions in their state – not up to Congress. I’m tired of hearing the Republicans negotiate but the democrats don’t. Stand Strong for a change!!!!
Let’s face it, the Republicans do not have a strong backbone to do anything that might create a conflict. They will never learn! Wait until the debt issue comes up and you will see another negotiation that will be detrimental to this country.
What is being proposed is unprincipled, unscientific, and immoral. It amounts to LEGALIZING abortion as a limited time offer.
Abortion is the #1 cause of death in this country and worldwide. With ‘Plan B’ and other early pregnancy options there is no reason to believe that will change.
The issue is one of ignorance and immorality on the facts of what we are doing, not bending to the will of people with uneducated, unprincipled, unscientific, and immoral opinions.
What ZZigler is saying is that “there’s a lot of RINO voters now who care about babies being allowed to live”
The gop falls into the abortion trap EVERY election. Why can’t you boneheads concentrate on the economy, or some other vital issue? Infanticide is a LOSER!
You do understand that infanticide as described by most state laws refers to the killing of very young humans after birth, don’t you?
But you’re right to say we shouldn’t ignore the economy, the national budget, educational issues, enforcement of laws, etc.
Republicans must stand for life, no compromises. They must not listen to the liberal left on this issue. Those who say abortion opponents are waging a war on women are liars. It is the abortion industry that is waging a war on women. Abortion harms women and is a terrible form of birth control. Abstinence is the most effective form of avoiding unwanted pregnancies. As the late Rush Limbaugh said abstinence works every time it is tried. The unmarried should practice abstinence as it not only prevents unwanted pregnancies, it also prevents sexually transmitted diseases.
You’re quite right. I wish we could get most teen girls to understand that abstinence protects them from not only the harm abortion might cause, but also the harm pregnancy can cause to a very young teen. Even some forms of birth control can be harmful, as my wife experienced when we were first married. As for avoiding sexually transmitted diseases, it goes without saying, or should.
However, abstinence often goes along with concepts of morality that many find burdensome. In others like young teens, the urges of raging hormones are too difficult to resist. Yet that too is connected to morality, something again all too many find to be all too quaint. It’s a sad commentary on our society.