The News
A key anti-abortion group is pushing to get Republicans singing from the same songbook a year after the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade damaged the party’s national political prospects.
Citing a new round of national polling the group commissioned, Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America argues in a new memo, obtained by Semafor, that many Americans are comfortable limiting access to abortions even if they consider themselves broadly “pro-choice.”
It’s part of an effort to convince Republicans to go on offense with an issue that many believe played a role in the party’s disappointing midterms performance, and get them to at least back a national ban on abortions after 15 weeks.
The memo, which was sent to 2024 presidential candidates, Republicans on Capitol Hill, GOP chairmen and RNC committee people, includes the finding that 59% of voters say they’d back “Congressional legislation that would prohibit abortions after a baby can feel pain at fifteen weeks of pregnancy,” with exceptions for the life of the mother, rape, and incest. That includes 53% of self-described “pro-choice” voters.
“There is NO partisan difference in the viewpoint that abortion should be limited here, with 59% of Republicans and Democrats alike choosing that option, along with 56% of independents,” the memo, compiled by The Tarrance Group for SBA, reads.
Abortion polling tends to be sensitive to wording and context, which SBA’s pollsters tried to account for by asking questions in different ways. The findings are in keeping with other surveys that have typically found that most Americans are open to some limits on the procedure, even when they oppose outright bans.
The memo also notes that a majority of Americans backed requirements that minors inform their parents before seeking an abortion, as well as laws that would permanently prohibit federal dollars from funding abortion.
“Too often we hear that abortion is a controversial and divisive issue, but the reality is we have consensus. The American people have spoken loudly and consistently about their support for protections for the unborn starting at least when a baby feels pain,” SBA Legislative Director Jamie Dangers wrote in an email accompanying the memo.