Tuesday night's off-year elections were awful for the Republican Party. One of the reasons that's been suggested why was abortion. Not only does the Democratic Party support abortion on demand throughout all nine months of pregnancy for any reason paid for by tax dollars without legal limit, they distract and even lie about it. They get away with it, too. The scrutiny is on the Republican Party, even when it comes to commonsense proposals like limiting abortion to 15-weeks, with exceptions. That was what Gov. Glenn Youngkin (R-VA) proposed, and yet Democrats still very narrowly took control of both the state Senate and House of Delegates, though Virginia Republicans did still perform well even if it ultimately wasn't enough. Republicans also lost the Kentucky's governor race, and a radically pro-abortion ballot initiative, which also usurps parental rights, passed in Ohio, not only removing all abortion restrictions, but taking away future Ohionans' rights to vote on the matter. And yet the pro-life Republican governor of Mississippi, Tate Reeves, won reelection outright, avoiding a runoff. His was actually the state responsible for the U.S. Supreme Court overturning Roe v. Wade in the Dobbs v. Jackson case, as a Mississippi law was used to do so.
Although it took some time, the third RNC debate ultimately discussed abortion towards the end of the evening. One of the candidate's answers that is specifically getting attention is former Ambassador and former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley.
As co-moderator Kristen Welker pointed out in her question, "Former President Trump has consistently blamed the abortion issue and how Republican candidates have talked about it for their electoral losses," a claim he specificially made at the start of this year following the 2022 midterms, which did not go as Republicans wanted or expected. "How do you see the path forward?"
Haley brought up the personal points she's raised before, with her husband being adopted and how she herself had trouble having her children. That is why she's "unapologetically pro-life," and "not because the Republican Party tells me to be." She herself began by pointing out that "this is a personal issue for every woman and every man."
"When you look post-Roe, a wrong was made right. They took it out of the hands of unelected justices and they put it in the hands of the people and now we’re seeing states vote," she said about the United States now under Dobbs. "And what I’ll tell you is as much as I’m pro-life, I don’t judge anyone for being pro-choice and I don’t want them to judge me for being pro-life. So when we’re looking at this, there are some states that are going more on the pro-life side. I welcome that there’s some states that are going more on the pro-choice side. I wish that wasn’t the case, but the people decided," she continued.
Does that mean Haley has given up on seeing any federal role, as some other Republicans and even fellow presidential candidates have? Here's what else she had to say.
"But when it comes to the federal law, which is what’s being debated here, be honest, it’s going to take 60 Senate votes, a majority of the House and a president to sign it. So we haven’t had 60 Senate votes in over a hundred years. We might have 45 pro-life senators. So no Republican president can ban abortions any more than a Democrat president can ban these state laws," she pointed out, which led to her main and perhaps most encouraging point.
"So let’s find consensus. Let’s agree on how we can ban late term abortions. Let’s make sure we encourage adoptions and good quality adoptions. Let’s make sure we make contraception accessible," she continued. "Let’s make sure that none of these state laws put a woman in jail or give her the death penalty for getting an abortion. Let’s focus on how to save as many babies as we can and support as many moms as we can and stop the judgment. We don’t need to divide America over this issue anymore."
People may always judge each other, especially when it comes to the vitriol that pro-abortion activists have for pro-lifers, especially pro-life women and even repentant post-abortive women. America may always always be "divided" over this issue, especially as Haley herself acknowledged it's "personal" for every person.
The name of the game is messaging. As mentioned above, and also discussed in a previous VIP piece from August when addressing Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s flip-flopping on the issue, Democratic candidates are coached to discuss abortion in the misleading ways that they do, and they have gotten away with it.
Haley was praised for her messaging in this case, including and especially by pollster Frank Luntz. Although Luntz drew strong reaction from many conservatives for how he praised RNC Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel, even after Tuesday's losses, that doesn't mean he's wrong on this one. It's at the very least food for thought.
Luntz wasn't the only one to notice. The SFA Fund, Inc., a Super PAC supporting Haley, sent out a press release on Wednesday night, before the debate was even over, highlighting positive reaction.
Haley's remarks were quite similar to what she has said along the campaign trail, including during a speech she gave in April at an event for Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America. Now, it seems, more people are really listening.
These points are also the same one that Timothy Head, the executive director for the Faith & Freedom Coalition, has made in conversations with Townhall to do with Republicans, their pro-life positions, and the abortion issue going into 2024.
As Matt covered on Thursday, Ann Coulter ripped pro-life Republicans in a post where she insisted, in all caps, "PRO-LIFERS ARE GOING TO WIPE OUT THE REPUBLICAN PARTY." Coulter expressed similar concerns in a column in April.
It is worth mentioning, though, that SBA Pro-Life America has stuck to a strong pro-life position. Marjorie Dannenfelser, the group's president, shared her disappointment with Townhall about Trump's claims during this year's March for Life, and the group did so more recently in April, as well. They also conducted a press call shortly after the midterm elections last year and released memos pointing out that the candidates who were boldly pro-life, such as now Sen. JD Vance (R-OH), Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL), and Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL), won their races.
Students for Life of America Action also called Haley out by name in a post, in addition to Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC) and former Gov. Chris Christie (R-NJ).
At the end of the day, it will be the Republican primary voters deciding whether to listen to such pro-life organizations or not. Trump, who has purposefully skipped the debates and held other events, is still leading the pack. He currently enjoys 58.5 percent, while DeSantis has 14.4 percent and Haley has 9 percent.
Meanwhile, let's not forget that the Democratic Party remains almost entirely united on the horrors mentioned above. If they were to get control back of the House and a filibuster-proof majority in the Senate--or just enough members willing to nuke the filibuster--the Women's Health Protection Act (WHPA), which carries out those goals, will go much further than Roe and will be the law of the land. Haley's reassurances would end up being for nothing.