Republicans reject restrictive positions on abortion as the 2024 campaign season heats up and polls indicate most swing voters don’t support women who have less access to abortion procedures and medication.
New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu said Sunday morning that the “next generation of Republicans” oppose abortion restrictions. He advised anyone considering running for the 2024 presidential election — himself included — to stop talking about abortion.
Republican Representative Nancy Mays also warned her colleagues not to “read the floor” when it comes to women’s healthcare issues.
“I want us to find a middle ground,” Macy told ABC’s This Week host Martha Raddatz Sunday morning. “As a Republican, pro-life constitutional conservative, I saw what happened after Roe v. Wade because I represent a very purple district…and I saw sentiment change dramatically.”
New Hampshire Gov. and likely 2024 nominee Chris Sununu said Sunday that the Supreme Court should not have overturned Roe v. Wade as he asked his GOP colleagues to back off talk of abortion.
Rep. Nancy Mays also warned fellow Republicans that if they don’t find a “middle ground” on abortion, they will “lose a lot” in 2024.
She added, “As Republicans, we need to read the room on this issue because the vast majority of people are not on the extreme.” This is an incorrect message heading to “24”.
Meanwhile, Governor Sununu said during an interview on NBC’s Meet the Press Sunday morning that his party needs to shift priorities.
“Every time Republicans start talking about abortion, we lose — we lose,” said the Republican governor of New Hampshire. Because it’s a state issue, that’s what Dobbs allowed to happen. When it’s a state issue, the voters have direct accountability.
Sununu said in January that he was considering bidding for the White House in 2024, but indicated he had no timetable in mind for when the decision would be made.
Abortion is high on many voters’ minds after a Supreme Court ruling last year overturned the 50-year precedent set by the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision.
Pro-abortion activists’ anger only increased earlier this month when a Texas judge stopped taking one of the most popular abortion pills in the country, mifepristone, which has been in use since FDA approval in 2000.
“I don’t think a 50-year precedent should have been broken with Roe v. Wade,” Sununu said on Sunday. I mean, this mifepristone – 20 years of precedent and one judge who doesn’t even know its name is going to try to ban all of it. This sends a lot of insecurity through the system regarding our messaging as Republicans.
“Let’s get back to what we do best: limited government, local control, and a little of that free-living-or-deceased thing we have here in New Hampshire,” he advised his fellow Republicans. “This is a record for actually crossing the finish line and having winners here in November.”
It comes after a Texas judge ruled earlier this month to stop taking the most popular abortion pill in the country — less than a year after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade and reregulated abortion to the states.
Mays also said during her interview with ABC Sunday morning that the Supreme Court made the “right decision” to preserve access to abortion pills for now despite a Texas judge’s ruling earlier this month.
She also warned that Republicans will “lose a lot” in 2024 if they don’t find a “middle ground” when it comes to abortion.
“The vast majority of people want some kind of pregnancy limit—not at nine months, but somewhere in the middle—they want exceptions for rape and incest, and they want women to have access to contraception,” says Mace.
“These are all very reasonable positions we can take and still be pro-life.”
Mace’s running mate in South Carolina in the Senate, Lindsey Graham, is taking a different tack by sticking to his attack on Democrats trying to push widespread access to abortion, including up to the point of childbirth.
“It’s a human rights issue,” Graham told CNN State of the Union host Dana Bash when asked if abortion should return to the states. “Does it really matter where you are carried?”
“In the 15th week, you have a well-developed heart and lungs,” insisted the Republican senator. “And dismembering a baby at 15 weeks is a traumatic experience. It’s barbaric. It doesn’t get along with the rest of the civilized world.”
He claimed that “only North Korea and China allow the request for abortion until the moment of birth, except for the Democratic Party.” What the Democratic Party is proposing about abortion is barbaric. Abortion until the moment of birth, funded by taxpayers.
“I welcome that discussion,” Graham added. “I think the Republican Party would be well positioned to oppose late-term abortion, like most of the civilized world.”
Democratic Sen. Amy Klobuchar backtracked on the matter, telling CNN in her special interview Sunday morning that it’s not her position to support up-to-date abortion.
The Minnesota senator added, “I think Senator Graham knows where the American people stand on this.” They are with the democratic leaders. And the people of this country believe that the women of this country should be able to make their own decisions about their health care, not the politicians.
