So, how many pro-life referendums have we lost? Some states were predictable, like California and Vermont. However, Montana, Kansas, Kentucky, and Ohio should be a wake-up call that maybe the Republican Party is not messaging right on the issue. Ohio, which has become a reliably red state, might be the tipping point, where almost 57 percent of voters approved a measure to guarantee a right to an abortion in their state constitution. It’s a state that Donald Trump won handily in 2016 and 2020. You don’t get 57 percent on anything here without healthy GOP support. The same happened in Kansas.
Though the battles were different, Kansas involved a right-to-life amendment to its state constitution, and a good chunk of GOP voters rejected the provision, hence why 59 percent of jayhawkers rejected the ballot measure. Granted, it’s not because Kansas is an oasis of abortion rights: there is no funding whatsoever, there’s a 22-week ban, and it has parental consent laws. My gut feeling is that most Kansas voters felt their state had a handle on the abortion issue. Ohio’s vote to codify pro-abortion rights as a constitutional right is new ground.
It was not lost on those on stage for the third Republican debate, but the fractures were apparent. The Republican Party is against abortion, but where that comes out on the policy end remains murky, and it’s costing us elections. We have those within the GOP pushing for an array of cut-off periods regarding abortion through 6-week, 15-week, or 20-week bans. But that leads to total ban supporters threatening primary mayhem on Republicans, who back a 15-week ban, for example, for being too moderate.
Dobbs didn’t outlaw abortion—it returned that power to the states for their respective populations to decide. Since then, every state, red and blue, has rejected pro-life measures. It’s got to the point where some conservative commentators, like Ann Coulter, are warning that pro-lifers could wipe out the GOP:
PRO-LIFERS ARE GOING TO WIPE OUT THE REPUBLICAN PARTY.
— Ann Coulter (@AnnCoulter) November 8, 2023
IN ADDITION to losing Ohio Tuesday night, Gov Glenn Youngkin lost big in Virginia -- because of pro-life zealots.
A 15-week abortion limit would have been fine with VA voters, but Republicans couldn't promise to stop there…
I’m not sure about that, but the primary antics are developing into an electoral sepsis that is immensely unpalatable to most voters, even Republicans. Pro-lifers being the cancer that kills the party is overblown. Still, abortion, as an issue, will animate Democrats to come out and vote this cycle, even with a Democratic president who is widely unpopular. I stand corrected on how this issue would play out. There is time to fix it, but it will be a mess. I will say that for our side, while the total ban is the purest regarding pro-life politics, it’s politically impossible.
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