GOP backs-off of pushing abortion restrictions amid fears of 2024 backlash
Republicans are hesitant about restrictive abortion stances as the 2024 campaign season gets under way and polls show most swing voters are against reducing women’s access to abortion procedures and medications.
Gov. Chris Sununu of New Hampshire said Sunday morning that the “next generation of Republicans” oppose abortion restrictions. He advised anyone considering a 2024 presidential run — including himself — to stop talking about abortion.
Republican Representative Nancy Mace also warned her colleagues to “read the room” when it comes to these specific health care issues for women.
“I want us to find a middle ground,” Mace told ABC’s This Week host Martha Raddatz on Sunday morning. “As a Republican, a constitutional conservative who is pro-life, I saw what happened after Roe v. Wade because I represent a very purple district… And I saw the sentiment change dramatically.”
Gov. New Hampshire and potential 2024 candidate Chris Sununu said Sunday the Supreme Court should not have overturned Roe v. Wade when he told his GOP colleagues to stop talking about abortion
Rep. Nancy Mace also warned her fellow Republicans that if they don’t find a “middle ground” on abortion, they will “lose big time” in 2024
“As Republicans, we need to read the chamber on this issue because the vast majority of people are not extreme,” she added. “That’s the wrong message on ’24’.
Meanwhile, during an interview on NBC’s Meet the Press program Sunday morning, Governor Sununu said his party needs to change priorities.
“Every time Republicans start talking about abortion, we lose — we are,” New Hampshire’s Republican governor said. “Because it’s a matter of state, that’s basically what Dobbs allowed. If it is a state matter, the voters are directly responsible.’
Sununu said in January that he is considering a bid for the White House in 2024, but noted that he has no timeline in mind for when he will make a decision.
Abortion is held in high regard by many voters after a Supreme Court ruling last year overturned the 50-year precedent of the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision.
The anger of pro-abortion activists only deepened earlier this month when a Texas judge ordered a suspension of one of the country’s most popular abortion pills, mifepristone, which has been in use since its FDA approval in 2000.
“I don’t think 50 years of precedent should have been broken with Roe v. Wade,” Sununu said Sunday. “I mean, this mifepristone thing — 20 years of precedent and one judge whose name no one knows is going to try to ban all of that. That sends a lot of uncertainty through the system in terms of our reporting as Republicans.”
“Let’s get back to what we do best: limited government, local control, a little bit of that Live Free or Die thing we have here in New Hampshire,” he advised his Republican colleagues. “That’s a record to actually cross the finish line and have winners here in November.”
Comes after a Texas judge ruled earlier this month to suspend the country’s most popular abortion pill — less than a year after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, returning abortion regulations to the states
Mace also said during her ABC interview Sunday morning that the Supreme Court made the “right decision” to keep access to the abortion pill for now, despite the Texas judge’s ruling earlier this month.
She also warned that in 2024, Republicans will “lose massively” if they don’t find a “middle ground” when it comes to abortion.
“The vast majority of people want some kind of pregnancy limit — not at nine months, but somewhere in the middle — they want rape and incest exceptions, they want women to have access to birth control,” Mace mentioned.
“These are all very sensible positions we can take and still be pro-life.”
Mace’s South Carolina Senate colleague, Lindsey Graham, takes a different approach by sticking to his attack on Democrats trying to make abortion widely accessible, including up to birth.
“It’s a human rights issue,” Graham told CNN’s State of the Union host Dana Bash when asked if abortion should be a state matter. “Does it really matter where you were conceived?”
“At 15 weeks, you have a developed heart and lungs,” the GOP senator insisted. And cutting a child into pieces at 15 weeks is a painful experience. It’s barbaric. It doesn’t fit in with the rest of the civilized world.’
“Only North Korea and China allow abortion up to the time of birth, except the Democratic Party,” he claimed. “What the Democratic Party is proposing about abortion is barbaric. Abortion until the moment of birth, paid for by the taxpayer.’
“I welcome this debate,” Graham added. “I think the Republican Party will have a good reputation for opposing late abortion, like most of the civilized world.”
Democratic Sen. Amy Klobuchar hit back on this, telling CNN in her own interview Sunday morning that it’s not her position to support abortion until birth.
“I think Senator Graham knows what the American people are thinking about,” the Minnesota senator added. “They are with Democratic leaders. And the people of this country believe that the women of this country should be able to make their own decisions about their health care, not the politicians.’