None of the major contenders in the 2024 Republican presidential race supports a national abortion restriction other than for late in pregnancy, following the withdrawal of Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC) on Sunday.
Scott, who began his presidential campaign in May, was the strongest candidate in support of a national-level limit on abortion after 15 weeks gestation, the point at which a fetus can feel pain. The 15-week cutoff had been identified by some anti-abortion activists as a viable goal for a national standard but now has no support among the candidates likely to be the Republican nominee.
REPUBLICANS NAVIGATE CULTURE WAR SETBACK ON ABORTION
According to the pro-abortion think tank the Guttmacher Institute, 65% of abortions occur within the first eight weeks of pregnancy. Only approximately 5% of abortions occur after 15 weeks gestation.
Scott's resignation comes only days after losses for anti-abortion advocates in the state legislative races in Virginia and the passage of an expansive abortion rights amendment in Ohio.
The junior senator from South Carolina has backed federal restrictions on abortions, including his co-sponsorship of a 20 weeks gestation ban in 2019, before the overturning of Roe v. Wade.
The prominent anti-abortion group SBA Pro-Life America had previously commended Scott for his support of the 15-week ban, saying that he "offered a clear, bold case for national protections for the unborn."
SBA declined the Washington Examiner's request for comment on what Scott's withdrawal means for the abortion debate heading into the primary election season.
During Wednesday night's third Republican debate in Miami, other candidates on the stage expressed that they agreed with Scott on promoting a "culture of life" but did not support federal legislation on abortion or said that passing such measures was not feasible.
Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) and former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley both signaled that they supported national-level restrictions on late-term abortions as well as expanding access to adoption services.
Scott criticized Haley during the debate for not supporting the 15-week ban, but the former governor defended her stance as pragmatic.
"I will sign anything where we can get 60 Senate votes, but don't make the American people think that you're going to push something on them when we don't even have the votes in the Senate," said Haley. "It's important that we're honest about that."
Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie has also taken the states' rights approach to the issue of abortion, saying that the variability of states was the main argument against Roe prior to the Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization decision in June 2022.
"In my home state of New Jersey, [abortion] goes up to nine months. ... I find that morally reprehensible, but that is what the people of our state have voted for," said Christie on Wednesday. "And we should not short-circuit that process until every state's people have the right to weigh in on it."
Entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy said that he was upset by the results in his home state of Ohio on Tuesday but that the fight on abortion has contributed to a "Republican culture of losing."
The front-runner in the election, former President Donald Trump, has been relatively silent on abortion except when criticizing the extremity of other candidates, including DeSantis's enactment of an abortion ban in Florida at six weeks gestation, when fetal cardiac activity is detectable via ultrasound.
In an interview with Univision on Thursday, Trump said that his historic three picks for the Supreme Court were responsible for the overturning of Roe and stressed that exceptions for all abortion limitations, including rape, incest, and life of the mother, are "very important."
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
On Monday, SBA posted on X, formerly Twitter, a message in support of Scott, thanking him for his "heroic clarity for life, working to support mothers and support national 15-week protections that will stop painful late-term abortions targeting babies in the womb."
Democratic National Committee spokeswoman Sarafina Chitika "thanked" Scott on Monday for reminding voters that "this GOP primary field is the most extreme in history, hellbent on passing a national abortion ban."