US Republicans: Stop talking so much about abortion

The issue of abortion is once again before the US Supreme Court. Abortion opponents want to significantly restrict access to abortion pills. The issue could become a problem for US Republicans in the election campaign.

A campaign appearance by Donald Trump a few days ago in Ohio: The ex-president calls his condemned supporters of the storming of the Capitol “patriots” and “hostages”. He warns of a “bloodbath” in the auto industry and the country if he doesn’t win the election. Trump left out only one topic in his hour and a half speech: abortion.

At previous appearances, the ex-president celebrated extensively for filling the Supreme Court with conservative judges and their historic decision to abolish the nationwide fundamental right to abortion. But it is clear to the 77-year-old: the strict bans on abortion from as early as the sixth week, which were then enacted in many conservative states, have done immense damage to the Republicans.

“Of course you have to follow your heart,” Trump recently said on FoxNews, “but you also have to be elected.” Many of his party colleagues who had relied on abortion bans without exceptions were punished by voters in the midterm elections in autumn 2022.

What is being negotiated today

The issue before the US Supreme Court today is the so-called abortion pill mifepristone. Abortion opponents want to significantly restrict access to the drug and have sued against its approval. A verdict will only be made at a later date. Experts consider it unlikely that America’s Supreme Court will follow this request.

An appeals court imposed access restrictions for the drug last year. These have not yet come into force because the legal dispute continues. According to the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), mifepristone is a reliable medication. It is mailed across state lines and can be taken at home.

Half-truths and vague promises

And Trump is trying to turn the tables. “The Democrats are the radicals on this issue because it’s okay to have an abortion in the 8th, 9th (month) or even after birth,” Trump said in the same interview. That’s not true, as the broadcaster subsequently discovered. But Trump was willing to compromise: “I would like a solution that makes both sides happy.”

For example, a ban on abortion from the 15th or 16th week, Trump said, sounds sensible and is a number that even the hardliners could agree with. And the Europeans would think the same way.

An unexpected verdict

In fact, many Republicans are now realizing that their supposed success before the Supreme Court is creating a problem for them at the ballot box. In ultra-conservative Tennessee, for example, an almost complete ban on abortion came into force shortly after the decision. One of the sponsors was Richard Briggs, a retired military surgeon and member of the state Senate. “The truth is, I never thought it would go into effect,” he told NPR.

Now he is trying to push through a change in the law that would allow abortions if the fetus has no chance of survival and to protect the mother’s health. The voters in actually conservative states like Ohio and Kansas went much further: They implemented the right to abortion up to the 22nd week by referendum.

Biden is bringing the issue to the forefront

During the election campaign, many Republicans only talk about the issue of attrition when asked. Completely in contrast to the Democrats. During his State of the Union address at the beginning of March, President Joe Biden asked a woman in the audience to stand up in the first few minutes: Kate Cox from Dallas, who was dealing with her problem pregnancy with a non-viable fetus because of the strict laws in Texas I had to search in another state, Biden said. Trump and the Supreme Court justices, who were also in the audience, are to blame for the chaos.

Those who boasted about abolishing the basic right to abortion “have no idea about the power of women.” But they would still feel it. The Democrats would therefore have won many elections in 2022 and 2023 and, according to Biden, confident of victory, they would therefore also win in November 2024.

What will mobilize voters in November?

The president promises to restore the basic right to abortion up to the 24th week by law across the US if majorities in Congress allow it. But it is questionable whether the issue of abortion will continue to mobilize as much in November as it has so far: According to surveys, issues such as immigration, inflation and the economy are much more important to many voters at the moment.

But one thing is now clear: Although more than half of the states have now banned abortions in whole or in part, the number of abortions has increased in the past year. In more than 60 percent of cases, they were now carried out with medication. Also because abortion pills are now much easier to obtain thanks to more lax rules from the Biden administration and the FDA. The Supreme Court must now decide whether these rules are legal.