The Republican civil war over abortion is just beginning

CLIVE, Iowa — Republicans are caught in a trap in abortionand it’s only getting worse.

They know that extreme abortion policies are unpopular and will cost them at the polls, yet any move they can take toward the heart of the issue risks angering evangelical voters, a key GOP constituency that is hell-bent on banning the procedure throughout the country.

Intrapartisan conflict in post-Roe America was on full display here in the Hawkeye State, where a crop of declared presidential candidates and some still exploring a run gathered Saturday for the first major event of the presidential caucus cycle of 2024.

The forum, organized by the Iowa Faith and Freedom Coalition, a leading organization of social conservatives, drew more than a thousand like-minded attendees who attended the event in support of evangelical causes and to boost the expanding Republican presidential field.

“We need to protect life,” said Sara DeMeulenaere, a retired ministry worker, as she strolled through the cavernous stadium where the event was held. “You shouldn’t give up and say that death is an option. It is not an option for our elderly or our babies.”

The push to ban abortion nationwide was dealt a temporary blow after the Supreme Court issued a ruling Friday allowing a major abortion drug to remain on the market. But advocates on both sides of the issue hope that justices will take up the issue again as conservatives try to do in court what they have been unable to do in Congress.

There is ample evidence of a backlash to the Republican Party’s abortion policies at the state level. In the past six months, Democrats have fared better in both the House and Senate during the 2022 midterm elections, won a referendum that kept abortion legal in Kansas, and shifted the balance of the Wisconsin Supreme Court toward liberals over first time in decades.

Those losses may help explain why most Republicans try to steer clear of abortion politics on the national stage, keeping quiet even after the Supreme Court struck down a 50-year-old precedent guaranteeing the constitutional right to abortion. something they have been working towards. a reality for decades.

In Congress, Republicans are divided on how best to approach the issue. Some lawmakers argue that the issue should be left to individual states. But a more conservative-minded faction of Republicans has backed a nationwide ban and urged the Supreme Court to enact harsh restrictions on abortion drugs, which have been tested safe by dozens of scientific studies.

In a sign of the growing influence of the latter group, Sen. Steve Daines (R-Mont.), a member of the Senate Republican leadership who chairs the Senate Republican National Committee, which is responsible for electing more Republicans to the House high, swore on Saturday to continue trying to ban the abortion pill.

But Sen. Tim Scott (RS.C.), who is expected to run in the 2024 presidential race, declined to comment when asked about the ruling during a visit to a farm in nearby Cumming, Iowa. “I have confidence in the judiciary to let it play out,” said Scott, who I had some problems detailing his position on the issue of banning abortion earlier this month.

Scott suggested that his party should tread carefully if it wants to win elections in the future.

“People want a fighter, that’s good. But they also want to win, that’s better. So the real question is how do we do that? And the best way to do that is to make sure our message is in sync with what the voters want and what the nation needs,” he said.

Former President Donald Trump, who is leading the polls in the 2024 Republican race by a wide margin, has also approached the issue with some caution.

Trump skipped Saturday’s Faith and Freedom event and addressed the room with a recorded message outlining actions he took as president to try to restrict abortion rights. Chief among them are the appointments of hundreds of conservative justices, including the three Supreme Court justices who helped overturn Roe v. Wade.

“No one thought it was going to happen,” Trump said in the video, drawing applause from the crowd. “They thought it would be another 50 years. Because the Republicans had been trying to do it for exactly that period of time, 50 years.”

But Trump has not endorsed a national ban on abortion, a stance that received a harsh reprimand ILast week from a leading anti-abortion group, Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America, which called it a “morally indefensible position for a self-proclaimed pro-life presidential candidate.” The group said it would oppose any Republican candidate who refuses to support a national ban on abortion after 15 weeks of pregnancy.

Florida Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis, Trump’s main rival who has yet to formally announce a campaign, also did not attend the event. He recently enacted the law a deeply unpopular ban on abortion after six weeks of pregnancy in Florida, without fanfare or signing ceremony. She has also avoided mentioning it on her travels across the country.

One likely 2024 candidate who has not been afraid to advocate for a nationwide abortion ban is Mike Pence, the former Trump vice president who is popular in the evangelical community. Pence appeared at the chat on Saturday, mingling with fans and taking selfies. He lamented the Supreme Court order allowing the abortion pill to be sold on the market and appeared to criticize his former boss for not showing up in person.

“The enthusiasm in this room is palpable. The people of Iowa appreciate when they see you,” Pence told reporters after his comments to the crowd.

But former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson, who will announce his 2024 Republican candidacy this week, argued that his party must approach abortion with “consideration” and “compassion,” even as it pushes for restrictions on the procedure.

“We have to handle it the right way,” Hutchinson, who also spoke at the event, told HuffPost. “He starts with, ‘These are our convictions, this is what we think is good,’ but also with a lot of compassion. … It is important that we recognize the large number of Americans who support life-of-mother, rape, and incest exceptions. I think we were wrong when we narrowed down those exceptions because the public generally supports them.”

Among those attending Faith and Freedom in Iowa on Saturday, the vast majority said they would like to see abortion eradicated across the country, but doubted it would ever happen. Some also expressed reservations about the restrictions on abortion with zero exceptions.

“I have mixed feelings about some of that, between rape and incest,” said Deborah Nelson, a western Iowa convenience store owner. “My husband always said that I was the most liberal Republican he knew on some of those issues.” .

Meanwhile, Mark Oltrogge, a retiree from Kelver, Iowa, said Republicans must continue the fight even if, for now, abortion has been left to the states to decide.

“I don’t see that returning a problem to the states is necessarily a victory for pro-lifers,” Oltrogge said. “I would like to see that there are no abortions. I hope one day I would like to see all life (protected). I’d like to see that come true.”