'They created this': are Republicans willing to lose elections to retain their abortion stance?

[marmar]

‘They created this’: are Republicans willing to lose elections to retain their abortion stance?
The right has, for decades, relied on abortion to rally their conservative base, but now their unified policy is flagging

Lauren Gambino
@laurenegambino
Sat 15 Apr 2023 05.00 EDT


(Guardian UK) Democrats have taken multiple actions in response to what they say is a “draconian” and “dangerous” decision by a federal judge in Texas threatening access to the most commonly used method of abortion in the US.

Several Democratic governors have begun to stockpile doses of the drugs used in medication abortions. Nearly every Democrat in Congress signed onto an amicus brief urging an appeals court to stay the decision, while some called on the Biden administration to simply “ignore” the ruling, should it be allowed to stand. A group of House Democrats introduced a bill that would give the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) final approval over drugs used in medication abortion.

Their fury over the ruling has been met with relative silence from Republicans.

Only a handful of congressional Republicans offered immediate comment on judge Matthew Kacsmaryk’s decision last week to revoke the FDA’s 23-year-old approval of the abortion pill mifepristone. Just a fraction of Republicans on Capitol Hill signed onto an amicus brief urging an appeals court to uphold the ruling. And among the party’s national field of Republican presidential nominees, just one – the former vice president, Mike Pence – unabashedly praised the decision.

....(snip)....

For decades, Republicans relied on abortion to rally their conservative base, calling for the reversal of Roe v Wade and vowing to outlaw the procedure if given the chance. But since the supreme court’s ruling in Dobbs v Jackson Women’s Health, abortion has emerged as a potent issue for Democrats, galvanizing voters furious over the thicket of state bans and restrictions ushered in by the decision.

Republicans have struggled to respond, lacking a unified policy on abortion in the nearly 10 months since the landmark decision. ............(more)

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/apr/15/abortion-republicans-election-supreme-court

[Walleye]

1. I just knew it, overturning Roe will destroy the Republican campaigns

[JohnSJ]

2. Yes, because in the bubble they live in, they believe it is a winning issue. The fact is if we

don't show up in large numbers in the polls, they will be right.

The argument by some that it doesn't matter because of gerrymandering is a false narrative, and only serves to demoralize turnout.

The fact is that gerrymandering or not, there are more than just Democrats who are pro-choice, they also live in those gerrymandered districts.

Also, gerrymandering does not apply to city, statewide, and Senate elections at the federal level.

Turnout can make a difference

[stopdiggin]

10. And - hammering the ever loving cr*p

out of the issue. Every district, every race, every platform. 'American Taliban' should be the watchword around the country ..

(because you're right, there are plenty of Rs out there that are really uncomfortable with the extremism .. )

[JohnSJ]

13. Extremely important +++

[Sky Jewels]

22. And motivating Gen Z to register as Democrats and VOTE every time

to save their rights and their futures and maybe their lives (through gun restrictions).

[Freddie]

12. I've seen some editorials lately

From their side - “it’s not too late to change hearts to respect life” etc.
They’re delusional. 99% of minds are made up on this topic and if anything, the recent atrocities because of the new laws are turning hearts away from the “pro-life” side. What we have to do is HAMMER this issue. Testimonials from women who almost died. Every. Single. Republican. thinks women should be gestational slaves, or they’d have left the party.

[JohnSJ]

14. +++

[republianmushroom]

19. agree

[Marius25]

3. They don't believe they will lose.

They've rigged so many elections and states that they figure they can weather the issue. Look at Florida. Basically impossible for Dems to win now with hundreds of thousands more Republicans in the state, and massive gerrymandering.

North Carolina is now a GOP supermajority thanks to that idiot that switched parties. They can now rig the maps to prevent the abortion issue from having any impact.

And thanks to how broken the Senate and Electoral college are, they only need to control the right states.

[Lovie777]

4. They believe on stealing elections............................

[Arazi]

5. Wisconsin shows us the way. We must fight everywhere we can

The early signs are encouraging but we must get even more stark in our language to women and young voters on what’s been lost with the Dobbs decision and the ensuing anti-abortion state laws.

[stopdiggin]

6. I think the 'policy position' is fairly apparent

and without a lot of variation or 'flexibility.' The inconvenient part - is that it's wildly unpopular, and they know it.

[marybourg]

7. Why would they do that when their whole

reason for jumping on the anti abortion bandwagon was to win easy votes? They don't care about fetuses any more than they used to care about the military. All they care about is staying in office.

[griffi94]

8. They don't think they'll lose elections

In case anybody has missed it, around 40% of the GOP no longer believes anything that they don't want to be true.
I think as reasonable human beings with critical thinking abilities, we often don't give that the credence that it deserves.
I think most people, regardless of their political affiliation, think that the MAGAs are somehow in touch with reality and just
don't want to acknowledge it.
As someone whose family is firmly in the MAGA camp, I can tell you, they truly believe whatever Fox News tells them to believe.
They really believe that they are being persecuted. That whites are the most discriminated against group. That President Biden is suffering from dementia and so on.

Because they don't want this to be true, they do not believe it. They will not accept evidence (fake polls) and when they continue to
lose elections, they'll scream voter fraud.

My parents aren't religious. Never went to church. Never owned a bible. Never discussed god except in the broadest possible way.
The GOP and Fox News hosts are their god. They believe as devoutly in the GOP and Fox News as the Evangelicals believe in the rapture.

[bronxiteforever]

9. Reproductive access is now built into every election

in every state house and and every Governor’s race. It is now an issue in every local prosecutor’s office too. Previously, the GOP could attack Roe with no political ramifications until the Supreme Court overturned it. They are in the process of losing an entire generation of voters for whom reproductive freedom is a present and real issue.
If they initiate a nationwide ban through activist and religious biased courts, the political damage will be enshrined for generations.

[stopdiggin]

11. +1. And should be reinforced at every opportunity! -(nt)-

[Midnight Writer]

15. They have no choice. They have painted themselves into a corner.

They can't backtrack without losing their base voters.

And they can't declare "Mission Accomplished!" and move on to other issues.

They are on a dark road and it is too narrow to turn around.

[Beartracks]

18. Would be nice if they'd fall off the cliff already, and be done with it.

Down into the dustbin of history.

=============

[erronis]

16. Guessing that the RW power-brokers thought they had hired the brightest minds to develop this

... to develop this strategy.

The brightest boys (and a few girls) on K Street or with MBAs or super-duper xian credentials.

Either the RW is getting fleeced, or the suited consultants are true believers, or this is just a f'in stupid move. I'm sure there are other factors in play but all-in-all things stink in the pseudo-conservative, pseudo-evangelical, libertarian world.

Hope they pay for their actions and work to improve themselves. Ain't going to happen. They'll pay, and seem to have mega-stupid-mega-rich donors, but why change when the purveyors of stupidity are still raking in the dough?

[Sky Jewels]

23. A lot of it is because right wing males thought it was an unimportant "women's" issue.

It's not a real issue, like the economy or guns -- things that affect people with white penises. (That was their theory for the '22 midterms ... how did that go for them?) I still see Republican males dismissing its importance, i.e. comments like "it's not high on the list of issues people care about."

They fucked around, and Gen Z women (and other key groups) are going to give them a big dose of "find out" for many election cycles to come.

[erronis]

24. Hoping you are right! "are going to give them a big dose of "find out""

It would be good to see a lot of serves-you-right in the coming decades. They are slimy and are always looking for ways to look like a re-brand.

Let's get $$$$ out of politics, and out of the pockets of the SCOTUS/wives/friends.

[Sky Jewels]

25. Yep. We need to crush the GOP, get a big Senate majority,

stack the Supreme Court, and absolutely take over the Circuit Courts, particularly the 5th.

[DFW]

17. No, and most of them don't intend to.

It is no coincidence that states forbidding abortion rights also tend to be among those making the most stringent efforts to restrict voting rights. It's like the rationalization some of the old-style western communists used to make--if our point of view were easy to accept, we wouldn't have to make such an effort to force it on people.

[usonian]

20. The cult believes that energizing its base will win

• Growing only in their reality distortion field, when it's shrinking.
• Perhaps that Jesus will multiply the loaves and ballots? (I told you, it's a cult) or perhaps
• Just to divide the country into free states and slave states, where slave states have the "minority rule" leverage given by "The Flounders", and as ordered by their Lord


Contradictions sometimes clear up when you find the "hidden variable" in plain sight.
Destroying both Russia and the U.S. will be his legacy.

[roamer65]

21. It's ALL riding on 2024.

The future of the United States of America itself.

[pwb]

26. If Red State woman vote for their freedoms

we could win big.