One of the country’s top anti-abortion activist groups is pushing GOP candidates to seize the narrative on abortion messaging ahead of the 2024 election, pressuring campaigns to commit to a federal ban as part of their platform.
Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America has emerged as a top influence among Republican circles, especially after the group openly criticized former President Donald Trump for failing to embrace a federal abortion ban as part of his 2024 presidential platform. Now, the nonprofit organization is partnering up with former White House counselor Kellyanne Conway to offer candidates a unified message on the top election issue.
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“Pro-lifers must be clear, crisp, compelling and, yes, compassionate in saving lives and appealing to hearts and minds,” Conway said in a statement. “States’ rights are essential, but leaders in Washington also must support our first freedom, the right to life. More than 70% of the country agrees that abortion not past the first trimester, e.g., 15 weeks, is reasonable, yet 100% of Democrats insist on abortion, anytime, anywhere, anyone. They deny science, sonograms and sensibility.”
The strategy comes as Republican leaders seek to shift their messaging on abortion, particularly after the party’s worse-than-expected performance in the midterm elections that saw Democrats use the issue to galvanize voter turnout. The Republican National Committee is leading the way on that front, advising GOP candidates in January to “go on offense” in 2024 and pass more anti-abortion legislation in Congress.
Part of that approach includes “exposing” Democratic policies that Republicans view as “extreme,” including laws that allow late-term abortions.
“The Democratic Party stance of abortion on demand, paid for by taxpayers, at any time and for any reason up until birth puts us in line with North Korea and China and is profoundly unpopular,” Marjorie Dannenfelser, president of the Susan B. Anthony group, said in a statement. “Pro-life candidates who lean into the contrast win, while those who take the ‘ostrich strategy’ and try to run from the issue are done.”
Some Republicans have expressed hesitancy with declaring such definitive stances, arguing that a push for a federal abortion ban is impractical and could alienate the voter base.
“I’m not going to lie to the American people. Nothing’s going to happen if we don’t get 60 votes in the Senate. We’re not even close to that on the Republican or the Democrat side,” GOP presidential candidate Nikki Haley told CBS earlier this month. “At the federal level, it’s not realistic. It’s not being honest with the American people.”
However, the issue is already playing out in some circles after Ron DeSantis hit out against Trump after the former president called the Florida governor’s newly enacted six-week abortion ban “too harsh.”
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“Protecting an unborn child when there’s a detectable heartbeat is something that almost 99% of pro-lifers support,” DeSantis told reporters last week. “As a Florida resident, you know, he didn’t give an answer about, ‘Would you have signed the heartbeat bill that Florida did, that had all the exceptions that people talk about?’”
Polling shows nationwide support for at least partial access to abortion, with 66% of voters saying it should be legal during the first three months of pregnancy, according to a recent NPR/PBS NewsHour/Marist poll. Meanwhile, most voters oppose allowing abortions only up until six weeks, including a majority of Republicans, the poll shows.