The Republican National Committee passed a resolution Monday urging party members at both the state and federal levels to pass the most aggressive anti-abortion legislation possible in the run-up to 2024.
It specifically points to heartbeat bills, which usually translate as six-week gestational bans — before most women know that they’re pregnant — and “fetal pain” legislation, premised on the anti-abortion myth that embryos and fetuses can feel pain far before they’ve developed the structures that would allow them to.
The resolution also blames Republicans’ historically weak midterms performance on candidates failing to push their anti-abortion bona fides hard enough.
“Instead of fighting back and exposing Democratic extremism on abortion, many Republican candidates failed to remind Americans of our proud heritage of challenging slavery, segregation, and the forces eroding the family and the sanctity of human life, thereby allowing Democrats to define our longtime position,” the resolution said.
Some have pointed to Republicans’ absolutist stance on abortion, which is out of step with the majority of the country that supports abortion access, as contributing to an unsuccessful midterms cycle headlined by anti-abortion extremists like Doug Mastriano in Pennsylvania and Blake Masters in Arizona.
But the document, trumpeted by the anti-abortion organization Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America, makes no attempts to moderate.
“The Republican National Committee urges Republican lawmakers in state legislatures and in Congress to pass the strongest pro-life legislation possible – such as laws that acknowledge the beating hearts and experiences of pain in the unborn – underscoring the new relics of barbarism the Democratic Party represents as we approach the 2024 cycle,” it said.
The document may be, at least in part, a gesture of conciliation towards the party’s right wing, which just emerged unsuccessful from a bruising fight for RNC chair. Ronna McDaniel won the title Friday, managing to rebuff an insurgency backed by both hard-right activists and moderates seeking to avoid a Donald Trump coronation in 2024.
McDaniel embraced the likes of Mike Lindell, MyPillow executive-turned-MAGA conspiracy theorist, after her win. Lindell was one of the candidates that challenged McDaniel.
“We heard the grass roots,” McDaniel said. “But with us united and all of us going together, the Democrats are going to hear us in 2024.”
Meanwhile, groups supporting abortion access are planning to center the issue in 2024 too, preparing in many states to get initiatives on the ballot to enshrine abortion rights in their constitutions.
Read the resolution here:
