GOP Struggles With Abortion Policy.

April 11, 2023 Glen Turpening

The GOP bans on abortion are causing dismay within the party who are intent on winning elections due to their wider unpopularity. (The New York Times)

Last year’s Supreme Court decision overturning a woman’s constitutionally protected right to an abortion was supposed to send the issue of abortion access to the states, where local politicians were supposed to have the best sense of the electorate’s views. But the decision on Friday by a conservative judge in Texas, invalidating the Food and Drug Administration’s 23-year-old approval of the abortion pill mifepristone, showed the push for nationwide restrictions on abortion has continued since the high court’s nullification of Roe v. Wade. Days earlier, abortion was the central theme in a liberal judge’s landslide victory for a contested and pivotal seat on the state Supreme Court in Wisconsin. Some Republicans are warning that the uncompromising position of their party’s activist base could be leading them over an electoral cliff next year.

By Jonathan Weisman, writing for 'The New York Times'

Abortion is once again front and center in American politics. Donald Trump praised the Supreme Court decision overturning ‘Roe’ but privately he lamented the decision would be very bad for Republicans in general. He was exactly right and politicians across the GOP ideological spectrum have struggled to get the messaging right to a public that is by and large pro-choice after living with ‘Roe v. Wade’ for 50 years. Now that the right to choose is taken away in many areas of the nation voters are highly scrutinizing candidates for elected office and turning away the most anti-choice among them.