The Republican Party has a problem, and one of its own making. Following elections across the country on Nov. 7, it’s finally becoming clear that the extreme laws many states are enacting restricting abortion and reproductive rights are out of step with what most voters want.
This does not bode well for the GOP in upcoming elections in 2024.
In Ohio, voters approved a constitutional amendment that ensures access to abortion and other forms of reproductive health care. In Virginia, Democrats won control of both legislative chambers. The result was a rebuke for Republican Governor Glenn Youngkin, who campaigned hard for Republican candidates and sought to unify them around his proposal to ban most abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy. And in Kentucky, Democratic Governor Andy Beshear won a second four-year term defeating the GOP challenger, who supported abortion restrictions.
All are very conservative states. They join other states, both red and blue, including Kansas, California, Michigan, Montana and Vermont, where voters have either affirmed abortion rights or turned away attempts to undermine the right.
The very conservative factions of the GOP have enthusiastically taken up the “pro-life” mantle regarding abortion. After the Supreme Court decision last year that rolled back abortion rights on the national level, GOP legislatures and governors across the country began enacting very strict abortion laws, including criminalizing any type of abortion and denying reproductive health care options to women faced with difficult pregnancy decisions.
The anti-abortion access activists have been working to overturn the law for 50 years since Roe v. Wade guaranteed abortion rights in the United States, and they were overjoyed with the Supreme Court decision. The rhetoric used around the abortion debate has typically been about “killing babies” or “protecting the unborn.”
What has become apparent in the aftermath of the Supreme Court decision, however, is that abortion rights are not something Americans have taken lightly and that women of all political persuasions see the reversal as an attack on their individual rights, as well as their ability to make important health care decisions for themselves. Women who may never, ever consider abortion still do not like their reproductive rights and health care decisions taken away.
Even conservative media outlet, Fox News, sees the writing on the wall. The network’s most conservative host, Sean Hannity, said the GOP has to be honest that the country is not in step with their restrictions on abortion.
He pointed to earlier abortion-related losses in other states, calling it an “indication that the women in America, suburban moms, want it probably legal and rare and probably earlier than the point of viability.”
I remember those days when politicians talked about their desire for abortion to be legal and rare. That pretty much sums it up for me, and I think it sums it up for most people. However, far right policies in many states have prevented “legal and rare” from becoming reality.
Instead of embracing sex education and contraception education, many conservative political and religious leaders have labeled these very common-sense policies as “condoning” sex and pushed against them. The Oklahoma Legislature has turned away many attempts to provide more sex education and contraception counseling in schools.
And as far as maternal health care and support, many areas in the country, including Oklahoma, have not supported laws or policies that protect mothers and children.
A recent article in The Oklahoman explored whether an abortion protection ballot petition is possible in Oklahoma. According to that article, legislators, abortion-rights and anti-abortion organizations, health care professionals and others think it is the only pathway to a less restrictive abortion law.
Oklahoma GOP legislators see this coming, and will probably introduce more legislation this session to make it more difficult to get citizen petition questions on the ballot. They’ve worked since the medical marijuana petition passed handily in 2018 to make it more difficult to get citizen petitions on the ballot.
Republicans in Ohio tried to raise the threshold for amending the constitution by referendum from a simple majority to 60%. That measure failed.
There is a grass-roots group in Oklahoma called We are Rising that is attempting to unite Oklahomans from all political perspectives to stand up against dangerous laws that impact the health, safety and well-being of women and girls. Their goal is to work with legislators first and to engage more women on abortion and all its nuances.
GOP legislators in Oklahoma and across the country running for re-election should take heed. After these defeats for abortion restrictions and previous ones, they need to engage with constituents honestly and be willing to moderate their hardline stance on abortion restrictions.
If not, they could see themselves pushed to the outside in many state and national elections in 2024.
Cindy Allen 