Many Republicans are calling for the GOP to commit to a unified stance on abortion. Although the legal technicalities are now up to the states to decide, the GOP must adopt a strategy to put an end to the series of election defeats: Listen to powerful pro-life women officials who urge caution while doing away with widely unpopular abortion-policy proposals.
The GOP has seen disappointing election results following the overturning of the 1973 Supreme Court decision in Roe v. Wade, including taking a narrower-than-expected majority in the 2022 midterm elections and losing an abortion-related ballot proposition in the solidly Republican state of Kansas. Plenty of analysts blamed the court's decision last year in Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization. At the very least, the weak Republican performance serves as an opportunity for introspection.
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In this light, the GOP must pay heed to influential pro-life Republican women officials who are trying to steer the party toward a consensus. This will not only make the GOP a champion of the pro-life movement but will also make it easier to tamp down the volatility of abortion as a political matter.
For example, Rep. Nancy Mace (R-SC) has called for the GOP to reach a “middle ground” on abortion. She expressed concerns about Florida’s bill banning most abortions after six weeks and a South Carolina bill introduced in March that proposed the death penalty for women undergoing abortions. Another related example is when the three pro-life female GOP state senators in South Carolina turned against their own party to block a near-total abortion ban earlier this year.
It is clear from such instances that these pro-life Republican women are looking for commonsense laws regarding abortion, not extreme ones.
Republican National Committee Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel has called for the GOP to address abortion "head-on." In April, McDaniel said, “You need to say, 'Listen, I’m proud to be pro-life. ... We need to find consensus among Democrats and Republicans.'”
House GOP Conference Chairwoman Elise Stefanik (R-NY) and Rep. Kat Cammack (R-FL) have supported a 15-week abortion ban with exceptions for rape, incest, and danger to the life of the mother. Even Mace, who calls for a middle ground, has indicated she is open to supporting a 15-20 week limit on abortion.
But the list is not exhaustive. Sens. Joni Ernst (R-IA), Marsha Blackburn (R-TN), Cynthia Lummis (R-WY), and Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-MS) have all supported abortion bans after 20 weeks of pregnancy while maintaining the aforementioned exceptions. Former Vice President Mike Pence, seen as one of the most influential figures of the pro-life movement, is challenging his 2024 rivals to commit to the idea of a 15-week minimum standard. This is a groundbreaking chance for the GOP to capitalize on and fight against the extreme image it has been falsely accused of condoning.
A Gallup poll from May shows that 85% of people believe abortion should be legal in at least some circumstances. A clear minority of 24% of the population supports a near-total ban, including in the first trimester of pregnancy. But 69% of people believe abortion should be legal in the first trimester. Proposals for 15-20 week abortion bans are very much in line with this statistic.
If politicians propose near-total abortion bans without exceptions for rape, incest, and danger to the life of the mother, they are going to find it difficult to garner support or see any electoral wins. Advocating against access to birth control pills while staying silent on other contraception methods, such as condoms, is not going to go unnoticed among most pro-life women. The majority of women voters will continue to abandon the GOP while independents will keep deflecting to the Democratic Party in elections as it continues to weaponize the overturning of Roe v. Wade.
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Max Mallhi is a summer 2023 Washington Examiner fellow.