Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America, an organization that boosts anti-abortion politicians, threatened to withhold its support from former President Donald Trump if he doesn’t change his public stance on abortion.
The group put out the ultimatum in response to a Trump campaign statement to the Washington Post Thursday: “President Donald J. Trump believes that the Supreme Court, led by the three justices which he supported, got it right when they ruled this is an issue that should be decided at the state level.”
The group called it an “inaccurate reading” of Dobbs and an unacceptable position for an anti-abortion politician to take.
“We will oppose any presidential candidate who refuses to embrace at a minimum a 15-week national standard to stop painful late-term abortions while allowing states to enact further protections,” the group said, invoking a common anti-abortion myth about when fetuses can feel pain. Most pregnancies last around 40 weeks, making the 15-week mark well short of “late term.”
The organization has twisted the conclusion in Dobbs to actually mean that abortion access is not up to individual states but to elected officials, namely national Republican elected officials who could pass a country-wide abortion ban if they secured the White House and both chambers of Congress.
The reaction also shows the difficulty of the position that Trump — and all Republicans gunning for the White House — will face. From the Wisconsin Supreme Court race to ballot initiatives in red states like Kansas, abortion is proving to be an electoral thorn in the side of Republicans. Some GOP operatives are pounding the alarm, worried that their extreme stances will continue to alienate the less extreme voters they need to win.
Look no further than Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL), widely known to be planning a run this cycle. He signed a six-week abortion ban with no press, behind closed doors and declined to talk about it even before a very friendly audience at Liberty University.
It’s a subset of a more general problem that’s been plaguing Republican politicians for years now. As the party marches to the right, it becomes increasingly difficult for them to be hardline enough to not be outflanked during the primary, but palatable enough to swerve back to the middle for a more moderate general election audience.
That problem won’t go away anytime soon: 2024 is the first time a national abortion ban will truly be on the table, as Republicans will get the chance to win the presidency and Congress. And even if Republicans don’t want to talk about it, you can put your money on Democrats bringing it up early and often.
