Republicans in Congress shy away from campaigning on national abortion platform
WASHINGTON — Republicans, hoping to flip control of Congress in the November elections, appear to have decided against campaigning on a unified abortion platform that would specify exactly what conservatives plan to do if given control of the U.S. House and Senate.
Yet Republicans in Congress have written dozens of proposals that, if passed, would restrict abortion nationwide. GOP lawmakers this session have introduced more than 153 abortion-related bills that party leaders could point to as evidence of what Republicans would try to pass on the national level if they trounce Democrats at the polls.
They include legislation that would define life as beginning at the moment of fertilization, prohibit insurance coverage for abortions, and make it a crime punishable to up to five years in prison for doctors who perform abortions after a heartbeat is detected, generally at about six weeks.
But so far, Republicans have opted against a cohesive national campaign strategy on abortion, following the decision by the U.S. Supreme Court in June to overturn the landmark 1973 Roe v. Wade case. Many Senate Republicans are brushing aside questions about whether they would take up a nationwide abortion bill, citing as a hurdle the Senate filibuster that means bills need 60 votes to advance.
Republican leaders are leaving it up to each House or Senate candidate to tout their own bills and views while the party wrestles with whether the matter should be left solely to state lawmakers or if Congress has a role to play.
“It’s one thing that we are debating within the conference,” Iowa Republican Sen. Joni Ernst said of a nationwide abortion bill. “But at the same time, most of us do believe that the Dobbs decision was the right decision, and it’s returning that authority to our state and local governments. That’s our system of federalism.”
Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers, a Washington Republican who has become one of her party’s leading voices on abortion, said during a brief interview the GOP won’t put forward a nationwide abortion policy ahead of the midterms.
“We’re not in a position to move anything and the U.S. Supreme Court really sent it back to the states,” she said.
But McMorris Rodgers didn’t rule out Republicans pushing nationwide legislation after the election if they regained control of Congress.
“Not before the election,” she said, later adding “Well, yeah,” when asked if Republicans would put forward legislation afterward if they won.
Back to the states
Some Republicans have repeatedly said their opinion of the ruling on abortion in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization is that it sent the issue back to the states. Others have said it’s a topic for Congress to debate as well.
The Supreme Court’s decision overturning the constitutional right to an abortion that stood for nearly 50 years said “the authority to regulate abortion is returned to the people and their elected representatives.”
House GOP Whip Steve Scalise, a Louisiana Republican, said during a press conference in June shortly after the ruling was released that the decision “finally allows states and Congress…
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