Abortion has become politically fraught for
Republicans.
The Republican Party has struggled to contend with
abortion since the Supreme Court eliminated the constitutional right to the
procedure last summer and sent abortion policy to the states.
By Amy
Harmon, David W. Chen and Ava Sasani
April 21,
2023
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/04/21/us/texas-abortion-pill-republicans.html
The
Republican Party has struggled to contend with abortion since the Supreme Court
eliminated the constitutional right to the procedure last summer and sent
abortion policy to the states.
So far, 13
conservative states ban most abortions. Georgia bans abortions at six weeks,
before most women know they are pregnant. And that does not include bans
enacted in other states, including a new six-week ban in Florida, that are not
in effect because of court challenges.
But other
states are locked in debate over how far to go with restrictions or exceptions
to existing bans. Conservatives have been split over how to approach the
abortion issue after the victory of the Supreme Court decision was followed by
midterm losses.
This month,
the victory of a liberal candidate in a pivotal race for the Wisconsin Supreme
Court was partly down to the issue of abortion, which proved a powerful
motivator for voters.
Nebraska’s
legislature advanced a six-week abortion ban this month — but a Republican co-signer
of the bill recently proposed an amendment to shift the ban to 12 weeks.
Republicans
in conservative states have sought to balance pressure from their base to place
more restrictions on abortion with broader support for the right to end a
pregnancy.
Public
support for legal abortion has climbed to 65 percent this year from 55 percent
in 2010, according to recent polling from the Public Religion Research
Institute. Majorities of residents in 43 states say that abortion should be
legal in most cases. Around 63 percent of Republicans said abortion should be
illegal in most or all cases, according to the PRRI poll.
Some
Republican state leaders — particularly those with national ambitions — have
sought to walk a delicate line on an issue that was once a party touchstone.
“This just
puts the issue front and center again, and in most states and most places, it
inarguably helped Democrats in 2022,” said Mike DuHaime, a former political
director of the Republican National Committee. “What Republicans need to do is
get to a place where they talk less about the extremes.”
Some
Republicans are emphasizing an approach that focuses on providing resources and
support for mothers and babies, as a way to mitigate the impact of bans.
On
Wednesday, Gov. Tate Reeves of Mississippi, where most abortions are banned,
signed a package of bills into law, increasing tax credits for the state’s
crisis pregnancy centers, which encourage women to give birth, and expanding
the use of “safe havens,” a way for parents to surrender babies for adoption.
Gov. Ron
DeSantis of Florida, who is expected to make a White House bid, recently signed
that state’s six-week ban into law, despite the political complications it
presents. The law is likely to help him court conservative and evangelical
voters in a presidential primary, but could hurt him in a general election.
The ban,
one of the most restrictive in the country, stands to shut off abortion access
for women in the Deep South who relied on Florida as a destination for the
procedure.
Senator
Lindsey Graham’s proposal for a 15-week national abortion ban last September
failed to garner support from other Senate Republicans. And former President
Donald J. Trump has blamed the abortion issue for the underperformance of
Republicans in the 2022 midterm elections.
Amy Harmon
is a national correspondent, covering the intersection of science and society.
She has won two Pulitzer Prizes, for her series “The DNA Age”, and as part of a
team for the series “How Race Is Lived in America.” @amy_harmon • Facebook
David W.
Chen reports on the business of sports, investigating the corporate, non-profit,
and government players with skin in the games. Before joining the Sports desk,
he worked for Metro for more than 20 years as an investigative reporter and
bureau chief in City Hall and Trenton. @davidwchen
Ava Sasani
is a reporter for the National desk. @AvaSasani
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