Nancy Mace to GOP: Stop burying ‘heads in the sand’ on abortion

Republican Congresswoman Nancy Mace on Sunday warned her party members to stop “burying our heads in the sand” on the abortion issue and move to a more central position if they want to continue winning elections.

Mace, who has spoken openly about being a rape victim, has repeatedly criticized her party for what she called a lack of “compassion” for women on the issue.

Her criticism comes as polls show that a majority of Americans support abortion rights, even as Republican Florida Governor Ron DeSantis has signed one of the most restrictive abortion bans in the country and a legal battle looms over a Texas case involving a judge withdrew the FDA’s approval. a popular abortion drug.

Mace, who describes himself as “pro-life,” said that when it comes to the abortion issue, the Republican Party needs to “find a middle ground on this issue.”

“I have a great pro-life vote, but some of the positions we’ve taken, especially when it comes to rape and incest, protecting a mother’s life, it’s so extreme, the middle — the independent voters, right of center, left of center, they can’t support us,” she said on Fox News Sunday.

Mace argues that most voters support abortion in terms of rape or incest or when it comes to the mother’s life. Polls show that most Americans agree and that a majority of Americans are generally in favor of abortion rights.

She pointed out that Republicans didn’t do as well as expected in the 2022 midterm elections, which many analysts attribute to voters coming to the polls in anger over the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade. to make.

Mace said she would personally ban abortions after 15 to 20 weeks, which is usually when a heartbeat can be detected.

“There are many things we can do to protect life and not alienate the independent voter,” she said.

“What I saw in the midterms last year was that we lost seats that we should have won,” Mace noted. ‘Women watching. But instead it looks and feels like we’re burying our heads in the sand.’

She continued, “We fear the issue because we fear our base.”

Mace pointed out that she was targeted by former President Donald Trump in the 2022 primary — mainly because of her abortion stance — but ended up winning that contest by 9 points.

The abortion issue is expected to dominate the 2024 presidential election as a wave of new restrictions took effect across the country after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade.

One such place is Florida, where Governor DeSantis, who is expected to run for president, has signed into law a law banning abortions after six weeks. It essentially bans the procedure in the state, since most women don’t realize they’re pregnant at the time.

Florida Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis has signed one of the most restrictive abortion bans in the country

Many Republicans fear such bans go too far and scare off voters. And it causes some to question DeSantis.

Hungarian-born billionaire Thomas Peterffy had previously said he was “looking forward” to funding the governor’s likely bid for the White House.

But he told the Financial Times on Saturday that he and “a bunch of friends are keeping our powder dry” because of DeSantis’s “stance on abortion and book bans.”

“I put myself on hold,” Peterffy said.

“I am more reluctant to support him. We’ll wait and see which of the primary candidates has the best chance of winning the general, then put all our firepower behind them.”

A whopping 64 percent of Americans believe abortion should be legal in all or most cases, according to the latest data from the Public Religion Research Institute (PRRI.) Sixty-three percent disagreed with the decision to overthrow Roe.

Sixty-eight percent of independent voters said abortion should be legal in most or all cases, according to PRRI, as did 90 percent of Democrats and 36 percent of Republicans.

About 21 per cent of Independents said the abortion issue was a deal breaker – they would only vote for a candidate who shared their views.