How many voters know that the Democratic Party supports legalized abortion during all nine months of pregnancy upon request, for virtually any reason? How many voters know that this position aligns with only six other countries in the world – three of which, not coincidentally, are North Korea, Vietnam and China?
How many voters know that Democrats want to pass federal legislation prohibiting states from ending sex-selective abortion or dismemberment of unborn children already viable, or requiring parents and guardians of minors to be notified before undergoing an abortion? How many know that Democrats want to strip medical workers of their conscience rights by forcing them to participate in the procedure or lose their jobs? How many people know that Democrats want to eliminate the popular Hyde Amendment, which stops the federal government from funding abortions with taxpayer money?
Perhaps most voters are unaware of the Democrats’ maximalist positions because the media continually lies and obfuscates them. Perhaps interviewers rarely ask useful questions on this topic because the answers are much more complicated than they would like. And perhaps after the shock of the overturning of Roe v. Wade – treated by Democrats as if it had been carved into magical stone tablets over the past 50 years – the energy and passion of the debate will temporarily focus on the pro-abortion side. And perhaps if every voter knew all the facts, it still wouldn’t matter. Abortion is a sophisticated and emotional issue.
None of this excuses the inability or unwillingness of national conservatives to make a coherent and convincing case for life. Sometimes it seems like Republicans are more horrified by the Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health decision than abortion advocates are. Even if the pollsters were right about the unpopularity of abortion restrictions, there’s this crazy thing politicians sometimes engage in called “persuasion.” Rather than simply chasing voters for approval, it requires persuading them with arguments.
The problem seems to be that too many GOP members accept media concerns about trolling or listen to the advice of a risk-averse consulting class. Recently, for example, Janet Protasiewicz defeated conservative Dan Kelly by 10 percentage points to flip the state Supreme Court. Virtually every outlet treated the race as a national referendum on abortion. Successive major media outlets recruited anonymous consultants to provide off-the-record commentary expressing deep concern about the harmful effects of the abortion issue.
It’s strange that this lively only works in one direction.
In 2020, Brain Kemp, who the year before signed a pulse bill limiting abortion to the first six weeks, easily defeated media darling Stacey Abrams to win the governorship of Georgia (in a state that Donald Trump also lost). Abrams made abortion, along with guns, a central issue of her campaign, bombarding the state with ads. In 2018, Terry McAuliffe also attempted to make abortion the dominant issue of his campaign against Glenn Youngkin. At the time, a Washington Post article promised that the race would be “our first big test of the new abortion policy.” Well, Youngkin, who supports a 15-week abortion limit, won. Unfortunately, there were no moving or profound comments in the Post about abortion weakening Democrats.
Georgia and Virginia are swing states. Ohio, where Mike DeWine signed a six-week ban in 2019 and won state by 10 points in 2022, recently had one as well. This is the same state where pro-life JD Vance easily defeated “moderate” Tim Ryan. This week, Florida Governor and future presidential candidate Ron DeSantis signed a six-week abortion ban. It’s conceivable that DeSantis will be just as popular among Republicans in his state since the bill passed with a supermajority vote in the Florida Assembly. Of course, the conventional wisdom is that this hurts his presidential chances.
But Ohio, Virginia and Florida teach us nothing about abortion. The only thing that seems to matter is the Wisconsin Supreme Court race.
Either way, the Republican Party candidate doesn’t have to impress California voters. They need to convince social conservatives in Virginia, Ohio and Florida to get out and vote. Does anyone really think DeSantis would be politically better off vetoing the pro-life bill?
By shying away from talking about abortion, as many Republicans seem to do, it gives the impression that they don’t really believe in their own positions. This is probably often the case. But if you’re going to run as a pro-lifer anyway, letting the opposition define your beliefs doesn’t make much sense. Especially when making a rational and moral case for protecting a decent life is at least not particularly arduous – certainly not compared to left-wing extremism.
On the other hand, if every Republican lost every race in the country because of abortion, that still wouldn’t make killing people for convenience any less a moral abomination or the fight to stop it any less critical. The majority position is not inherently moral or decent – quite the contrary. And meaningful political fights are not based on short-term gains. It took 50 years to overturn Roe. The political fight over abortion may take even longer.
David Harsanyi is senior editor of The Federalist. Harsanyi is a nationally syndicated columnist and the author of five books, the latest of which is “Being Eurotrash: Why America Must Reject the Failed Ideas of a Dying Continent.” His work has appeared in National Review, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, Reason, New York Post and many other publications. Follow him on Twitter @davidharsanyi.
