Jessica Valenti: How Conservatives are Rebranding Pro-Life

[Nevilledog]

https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/political-commentary/conservatives-rebranding-pro-life-abortion-1235018370/

No paywall link
https://archive.li/dqfEL

AMERICANS DON’T WANT abortion to be banned. In fact, they barely want it legislated at all: A 2024 poll found that 81 percent of voters don’t want abortion issues to be regulated by the government. Instead, they want the decision to be between a patient and their doctor.

That overwhelming support for legal abortion leaves Republicans with a major problem: How do you defend and push a policy that no one wants? In the nearly two years since Roe v. Wade was overturned, the GOP has faced an unprecedented backlash. They’re losing election after election — from the 2022 midterms to state Supreme Court races — and abortion rights win every time they are on the ballot. Republicans are even considering doing away with the term “pro-life” because Americans view it as too extreme. The horror stories regularly coming out of states with abortion bans certainly don’t help.

In response, anti-abortion lawmakers and groups have recently launched a new two-pronged attack. They’re changing the way they publicly talk about abortion, using specific terms and phrases to make Americans believe that they’re softening on the issue; at the same time, they’re systematically chipping away at democracy so that voters won’t have a say in the matter, just in case their talking points don’t work.

I’ve been tracking these tactics in my newsletter, “Abortion, Every Day,” since Roe was overturned, finding that the GOP’s deception runs deeper than most people realize.

*snip*

[Solly Mack]

1. K&R

[KY_EnviroGuy]

2. Well, after all, they are the party of lies, deceptions and dirty tricks...

ever since the days of Goldwater and Tricky Dick just within my recollection, and some experts say long before that.

[wnylib]

3. I used to call them anti abortion instead of pro life.

Now I just call their whole movement anti women.

[TSExile]

5. Exactly.

The Grand Old Patriarchy doesn't give a crap about life or "saving" babies. It's ALWAYS about power and control because they want women and girls to be property.

[LiberalFighter]

7. They talk about freedom but want to take away freedom for women.

[RandomNumbers]

8. I call them Pro Death

because they don't care if the woman dies, as long as she carries that fetus inside her even if it kills her.

[Girard442]

4. You can do a thought experiment to picture how people who...

...were truly pro-life would act. Pretty clear today's forced-birthers are nothing like that.

[Skittles]

6. yup

for starters, they would be anti-gun