Anti-abortion proponents are pressuring Republicans to forcefully campaign against the procedure. following a string of defeats in the US midterm elections.
In recent months, conservatives celebrated their decades-long goal of overturning Roe v. Wade and watched access to abortion nearly disappear in a quarter of the country. However, they witnessed their hard-fought court accomplishment boost abortion rights supporters and defeat them in terms of spending and votes in the midterm polls.
Republicans, Anti-Abortion Groups Clash
Because of this backlash, the anti-abortion movement is embroiled in internal strife, accusation, and vehement disagreements over the messages and politicians it ought to cling to in the post-Roe era, according to Politico. Some lambast party leaders like Mitch McConnell and GOP candidates like Mehmet Oz for their weak stance on abortion.
Marilyn Musgrave, a former Republican member of Congress who now directs government affairs for Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America, said she hopes that the GOP realizes that "running away from the issue does not work." She said that the Democrats went "all in" on saying that women would not be unable to receive health care and would be punished, and the Republicans "did not respond" to that claim.
Anti-abortion organizations' and Republican leaders' differences threaten to undermine a movement that has for years influenced party platforms, tipped the balance in primaries, and helped to push the federal judiciary to the right.
According to Susan B. Anthony to Pro-Life America, a major anti-abortion organization with solid ties to Republican leaders, the GOP candidates who distanced themselves from abortion outlawing and failed to effectively show their stance on the issue have committed "political malpractice."
The group wrote in a memo that candidates could "win in competitive races" by painting their rivals as "abortion extremists" and discerning that "with a clearly defined pro-life position" focused on a general agreement on issues like pain tolerance or heartbeat limits, Axios reported.
Backlash Weakened GOP's Abortion Stance
On Wednesday, Marjorie Dannenfelser, president of SBA Pro-Life America, said that Republican candidates were reluctant to discuss abortion because of the abortion issue's sensitivity. In this week's episode of CBS News' "The Takeout," she said that Republicans "let the dust settle on the wrong side," as the midterm election approached.
Alexis McGill Johnson, president, and CEO of Planned Parenthood Federation of America said that Republicans became hesitant due to the backlash they experienced after Roe v. Wade was overturned. Following the Supreme Court's June 2018 decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, individual states are once again responsible for determining the legality of abortion within their borders.
Democrats have made abortion access a central platform issue because polls show a majority of Americans favor it. According to the Guttmacher Institute, which researches reproductive rights, the practice is illegal in 12 states with few exceptions.
Some anti-abortion groups have been calling for an internal reckoning on how they message abortion restrictions, especially to younger voters. Furthermore, they are discussing future approaches to the ballot initiatives that abortion rights activists will use to overturn regulations in several red states.
Some think the problem was that not enough people received the message during the midterm season as Republicans were clashing in state capitals over the extent of restricting abortion access, trying to sway the result of a court contest in Kentucky over the state's near-total ban on Tuesday, and investing at least $1 million into rallying conservative voters in the Georgia Senate runoff after being significantly outspent in critical midterm contests.
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