OPINION:
In Washington today, the media and consulting class — both permanently on the payroll of Political Conflict Inc. — have been hustling the Republican Party in a game of three-card monte, and it’s time for someone to call their bluff.
You’ve probably seen the game in movies. A con artist shuffles three cards at a table, calling to their marks that the correct pick will pay. But once cash exchanges hands, the card never appears while the hustle goes on.
It’s like that today for pro-life Americans and their political allies, though in this case, the con is “find the moderate position on abortion and win.” But that all depends on what the definition of “moderate” is.
Making peace with a little abortion is a losing proposition, especially considering that recently, the line has been drawn at almost four months of pregnancy (15 weeks), permitting more than 9 in 10 abortions. That’s to the left of even France, which is saying something.
Like a gambling addict down to his last dollar, the Republican Party lately makes a risky bet — that undercutting the principled position on human life will appeal to moderates who favor abortion access or independents who will never turn out in numbers to vote for the GOP on this issue. The party loses voter enthusiasm, loses the moral high ground, and loses credibility.
As the New York Post editorial board recently put it, “Republicans can’t just switch to being pro-choice; they’d not only look ridiculous, they’d lose far more votes than they gained.”
But time and again, the Republican Party reaches for that card, the one that says a little abortion will win.
The Democrats, meanwhile, are going all in on intentional abortion. They aren’t settling for “safe, legal and rare” anymore, but are pushing hard for “freedom” and a “right” to choose abortion without restriction. Their leaders won’t name a single limit they’ll support. Look at their websites.
The result is that their base shows up energized and mobilized to vote for exactly what they demanded, while pro-life and conservative voters over time stay home.
Pundits push polling as a reason to pick that abortion card. But the math doesn’t add up.
Every poll shows that Americans don’t want all the abortions that the Democratic Party is selling — abortion through nine months, for any reason at all, paid for by taxpayers, with attacks on the conscience rights of those who don’t want to engage. The radical agenda of today’s Democratic Party goes far beyond Roe v. Wade, no matter what you hear online.
Writing in The Wall Street Journal, Sen. Joe Manchin III, West Virginia Democrat, said that he had tried to “codify” Roe, a phrase that means make a federal law similar to that infamous Supreme Court ruling.
He wrote: “But the Senate Democratic leadership and the majority of the caucus refused to allow a vote on the floor because they wanted to expand abortion rights beyond Roe v. Wade. They put politics over the will of the people.”
Most people want limits on intentionally ending the lives of children in the womb.
Students for Life Action’s YouGov/Demetree Institute for Pro-Life Advancement poll shows that abortion limits when cardiac activity can be detected and limits of when a baby can feel pain receive basically the same level of support. Almost 7 in 10 of the most liberal voters, Generations Y and Z, want limits on abortion or no abortion at all. More than 9 in 10 support health and safety standards along with environmental testing to address the potential harms of chemical abortion pills.
Rather than asking the pro-life movement just how much abortion we will accept, our political leaders and allies and their consultants must address how far they are willing to go to protect life in law and in service. Candidates who begin their pitch with what can’t be done need to rethink their strategy.
The ambivalence of the consulting class on the human rights issue of our day is hurting the GOP as seen clearly in lackluster effort and anemic spending.
Supporters of abortion on demand team up with the Democratic Party to massively outspend pro-life advocates.
One case in point is Virginia, where the media claimed that a pro-life point of view was at the top of the agenda but not at the top of the ad buy.
The Washington Examiner wrote: “Democratic House of Delegates candidates outraised their GOP counterparts by a $48 million to $36 million margin, according to the Virginia Public Access Project. In state Senate races, the gap was even more stark: $62 million to $41 million. And although comprehensive outside group spending numbers are not yet available, individual campaign spending is far more important, as candidates have access to better ad rates than outside groups and can therefore make their money go much further.”
Money speaks louder than talking points.
It wasn’t a pro-life worldview that lost in Virginia, Republican Rep. Bob Good said at a Heritage Foundation event, saying that the GOP is told: “We’ve got to be like the Democrats on abortion. Then maybe we can win elections. I would argue, what’s the point of winning elections if you’re not going to fight for life?”
That’s what pro-life voters want to know in 2024. When playing three-card monte with the consultants in 2024, Republicans can’t pick abortion.
• Kristan Hawkins is president of Students for Life of America & Students for Life Action with more than 1,400 groups on campuses in all 50 states. Follow her @KristanHawkins or subscribe to her podcast, “Explicitly Pro-Life.”
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