Republican Rep. Nancy Mace (SC) said in an interview released last week that she is “pro-life,” but that the overturn of Roe v. Wade, the Supreme Court case that legalized abortion and was overturned last summer, meant that America “turned its back” on women’s rights.
Mace made the remarks on Bill Maher’s “Overtime” program.
“When Roe v. Wade was overturned, we just turned our backs on women across the country,” Mace said, noting that she was raped at age 16. She then said that the issue of abortion, and the issue of marijuana legalization, need a “middle ground.”
“I’m pro-life, but I also see that we need to find a middle ground with America. About 80 to 90 percent of people are in the middle,” she said. “We have got to protect women’s rights and the right to life. There’s a way to work together on many of these issues.”
We have to find middle ground in Washington in order to solve the issues facing our country whether it is abortion or cannabis. #IndependentVoice pic.twitter.com/qhDRRfdd5P
— Nancy Mace (@NancyMace) January 24, 2023
“Republicans have been on the wrong side of cannabis. We’ve been on the wrong side of Roe v. Wade and birth control and all these issues,” she claimed.
Many abortion laws passed in red states following the overturn of Roe allow for exceptions in cases of rape.
On Sunday, Mace said on NBC’s “Meet the Press” that she thinks the issue of abortion is why Republicans did not win a larger House majority.
“We [Republicans] should have had a dozen or two dozen seat majority this legislative session but we don’t because this [abortion] is one of the issues that was top of mind for swing voters,” Mace said.
“I’m here waving my hand being a very vocal person on this [abortion] and saying ‘I’m pro-life but I’m willing to sit down and talk about how do we balance the rights of women and the right to life?” she continued. "At some point, that infant has the right to life, and women's rights are equally important. So let's have that conversation."
Mace’s remarks came around the 50th anniversary of Roe. According to the National Right to Life Committee, more than 63 million unborn lives were terminated through abortion after Roe became the law of the land in 1973. Since Roe was overturned, abortions have dropped. In Texas, specifically, abortions dropped 99 percent in the months following the Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health decision.
In an interview earlier this month, Mace called her Republican colleagues “tone deaf” on the issue of abortion, according to The Hill.