April 21
By Kaia Hubbard
For Republicans, battered by abortion in the midterm elections and blemished by the issue on every turn since, the party is still in search of a winning message.
But the GOP’s leading candidates for the 2024 nomination have yet to find it.
Former President Donald Trump and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who is expected to launch a presidential bid in a matter of weeks, have both come under scrutiny this week for their positions on abortion.
The two represent the poles of the GOP problem on abortion – taking action to restrict the procedure or resigning to leave it alone for fear of its political repercussions. Where DeSantis just days ago signed a bill into law restricting abortion beyond six weeks of pregnancy – making the Sunshine State among the most restrictive in the country – Trump has pointed to the issue as a loser in the midterm elections and appeared unlikely to support a national ban going forward.
While DeSantis’ move has earned him praise from anti-abortion groups – which have argued since before the midterm elections that the “ostrich” strategy of Republicans burying their heads in the sand instead of facing the issue will not pay dividends – it’s already sustained fierce pushback. DeSantis has already lost the backing of key donors amid questions from the mainstream wing of the party about how he might fare in a general election – or even a primary.
Meanwhile, anti-abortion groups and evangelicals – who for years supported Trump as he incrementally delivered the final blows to Roe v. Wade – have turned on the former president in recent months, after he said in a post on his social media platform that the abortion issue was a political loser, blaming the extreme positions of some on the right who refuse to even consider exceptions to abortion bans for the party’s midterm performance.
On Thursday, after The Washington Post reported that Trump believes the Supreme Court got it right when it returned the issue to the states last summer while quoting a spokesman who characterized him as the “most pro-life president in history,” one anti-abortion group fired back, calling the former president’s position on the abortion “unacceptable.”
“President Trump’s assertion that the Supreme Court returned the issue of abortion solely to the states is a completely inaccurate reading of the Dobbs decision and is a morally indefensible position for a self-proclaimed pro-life presidential candidate to hold,” Marjorie Dannenfelser, the president of Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America, said in a statement.
Dannenfelser said the organization will oppose “any presidential candidate who refuses to embrace at a minimum a 15-week national standard.”
Few Republicans have expressed a willingness to do so.
For those who have, the blowback has been swift. Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina drew the ire of his party last year when he proposed a nationwide 15-week ban on the procedure heading into the midterm elections. Former Vice President Mike Pence has pledged his support for a nationwide ban on abortion beyond 15 weeks or further with little to show for it. And last week Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina, who announced an exploratory committee for a presidential run earlier this month, got tripped up when asked repeatedly about whether he’d support a federal ban.
Scott dodged questions from reporters about a 15-week ban but said he would “definitely” sign a ban beyond 20 weeks, later clarifying that he would sign “the most conservative pro-life legislation that they can get through Congress.” Former Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley has likewise hummed and hawed over the details of a national ban, saying that Republicans need to find “consensus” on how far along in pregnancy abortion should be restricted.
For their parts, neither DeSantis nor Trump has been especially vocal about the positions they’ve taken. DeSantis signed the bill into law with little fanfare last week, then later – given a prime opportunity to boast about the achievement before evangelical students at Liberty University – he made no mention of the rule. At the same time, Trump hasn’t touted his views in his typical fashion either, while staying uncharacteristically quiet on DeSantis’ six-week ban.
Polling suggests that the majority of Americans believe abortion should be legal in all or most cases. When considering nationwide policies on abortion, the largest group, 50% support a national right to an abortion, according to an Economist/YouGov poll, while 39% are supportive of a ban beyond 15 weeks of pregnancy and 29% support a flat-out ban on the procedure.
For Republicans, pleasing the anti-abortion groups, who wield political influence, while remaining palatable to the general electorate has so far proven to be a difficult – if not insurmountable – task.
The problem came to a head earlier this month when a federal judge in Texas determined that the FDA approval of a medication used to terminate pregnancies should be halted in a move that threatened to drastically alter the national abortion landscape once again and returned the issue to the Supreme Court, which is expected to weigh in on Friday – less than a year after it gave the issue back to the states.
Republicans, bruised by abortion’s toll on the midterm elections, largely remained silent after the ruling, as the party grappled with how to position itself on the issue heading into 2024.
Some were quick to point out the party’s struggles with the topic, like Rep. Nancy Mace of South Carolina, who told CNN that abortion is an issue “Republicans have been largely on the wrong side of.”
On the other end of the spectrum, Graham pointed to an opportunity for Republicans to win on abortion, telling his party, “If you’re pro-life, you need to explain what that means.”
“We can win this issue at the ballot box if we show up with reasonable positions,” Graham told Fox News, seeming to reiterate the message of anti-abortion groups. “If we have our head in the sand, we’re going to lose.”