It’s been roughly 15 months for the reason that US Supreme Courtroom overturned the constitutional proper to abortion, and there’s just a little over a 12 months to go till the 2024 presidential election, which may determine the way forward for abortion rights in america.
On one facet, President Joe Biden has vowed to do all the things he can to revive the protections beforehand assured by Roe v. Wade, however that may require a Democratic-controlled Home and Senate, and the elimination of the Senate filibuster.
On the opposite facet, the Republican presidential major discipline is stuffed with anti-abortion candidates, however amid large electoral backlash to abortion bans (spoiler alert: they’re unpopular and costing Republicans elections!), some candidates are trying to backpedal or soften their stances on the marketing campaign path, or ignore the problem altogether.
So the place do GOP presidential candidates stand on the problem? And what’s their report? Let’s have a look.
Donald Trump
Donald Trump, the previous president and GOP front-runner, has boasted about the truth that he appointed three of the Supreme Courtroom justices who had been a part of the choice that overturned Roe.
“After 50 years of failure, with no one coming even shut, I used to be in a position to kill Roe v. Wade, a lot to the ‘shock’ of everybody,” Trump wrote on Reality Social, his social media platform, in Might. “With out me there could be no 6 weeks, 10 weeks, 15 weeks, or no matter is lastly agreed to. With out me the professional Life motion would have simply stored shedding.”
He’s made related feedback at in-person marketing campaign occasions.
“Final 12 months, I used to be in a position to do one thing that no one thought was doable—and you must actually take into consideration this and research this as a result of it’s crucial—we ended Roe V Wade,” Trump stated to cheers throughout a Sept. 20 rally in Iowa.
Whereas bragging about being the individual chargeable for the reversal of Roe nationally, Trump has tried to distance himself from the results, most notably the whole or six-week abortion bans being handed in Republican-led states.
Throughout a latest look on NBC’s Meet the Press, Trump criticized Florida Governor Ron DeSantis for signing a six-week ban in his state.
“I believe what he did is a horrible factor and a horrible mistake,” Trump stated.
In that very same “Meet the Press” interview, Trump stated he needs to carry “either side” collectively on the problem.
Ron DeSantis
DeSantis calls himself a “pro-life candidate” and signed two abortion bans into legislation in Florida—a 15-week ban final 12 months and the six-week ban this 12 months—and advised to Tucker Carlson in July he would signal a nationwide model of Florida’s six-week abortion if he had been president.
Extra just lately, through the second GOP presidential major debate on Wednesday, he confirmed that he would signal a 15-week nationwide ban. He additionally dismissed the concept that abortion bans and restrictions had been the rationale that Republicans carried out poorly in final 12 months’s midterm elections.
“I reject this concept that pro-lifers are guilty for midterm defeats,” he stated.
Tim Scott
In contrast to a few of his counterparts, South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott has not shied away from abortion on the path and has made it clear to Iowans that he helps a nationwide abortion ban.
“I’m 100% pro-life. When I’m president of america, I’ll signal probably the most pro-life laws the Home and Senate can placed on my desk,” Scott wrote in a July op-ed for the Des Moines Register.
He additionally reaffirmed this stance many instances on the marketing campaign path.
“I’m a pro-life conservative with a 100% pro-life voting report,” Scott stated at an occasion in Iowa on Aug. 31. “As president of america, I might restrict abortions on this nation to fifteen weeks.”
He additionally referred to as the Supreme Courtroom resolution overturning Roe “historic” and celebrated his position in appointing the justices who overturned Roe.
Nikki Haley
Nikki Haley, a former UN ambassador and South Carolina governor, stated throughout a Might marketing campaign occasion in New Hampshire that she would signal a nationwide abortion ban, with out specifying particulars.
However she additionally raised some eyebrows through the first GOP presidential major debate when she stated requires a nationwide abortion ban had been unrealistic. She’s continued to reiterate that time on the marketing campaign path.
“With the intention to cross a federal legislation, you must have the vast majority of the Home, 60—six-zero—Senate votes and the signature of a president. We haven’t had 60 Republicans in over 100 years—we’d have 45 pro-life senators—so no Republican can anymore ban abortions than a Democratic president can ban these state legal guidelines,” she stated throughout a latest occasion in Iowa.
Haley stated her objective could be to cease as many abortions as doable and to assist moms and girls discover options to abortion.
Mike Pence
A superb basis of former Vice President Mike Pence’s political profession has been constructed on opposing reproductive rights.
“I’m pro-life and I don’t apologize for it,” Pence ceaselessly says.
He ran for Congress in 1996 for “the infants” and stated he was the primary individual to introduce laws to defund Deliberate Parenthood within the US Home of Representatives.
As governor of Indiana, Pence signed HB 1337 into legislation, which enacted new abortion entry restrictions, however the legislation was finally dominated unconstitutional.
On the path, Pence has additionally supported a minimal nationwide 15-week abortion ban. “When the Supreme Courtroom returned this query to the American folks, they didn’t simply ship it to the states solely,” Pence stated through the first Republican debate. “It’s not a states-only problem. It’s an ethical problem.”
“A 15-week ban is an thought whose time has come,” Pence added.
Pence has additionally boasted about being a part of the Trump-Pence administration that finally led to the toppling of Roe v. Wade.
“We must ban abortion throughout America,” Pence stated in Iowa this month.
Vivek Ramaswamy
Vivek Ramaswamy, a former biotech entrepreneur, describes himself as “unapologetically pro-life,” however has stated he doesn’t imagine a federal abortion ban “makes any sense,” whereas in the identical breath evaluating abortion to homicide.
“This isn’t a difficulty for the federal authorities. This is a matter for the states. I believe we have to be specific about that,” Ramaswamy instructed CNN in Might. “If homicide legal guidelines are dealt with on the state degree and abortion is a type of homicide, the pro-life view, then it is mindless for that to be the one federal legislation.”
On the state degree, Ramaswamy stated he backs outlawing abortion after six weeks.
“If life ends, when can we brainwaves finish? That’s how we decide when life ends on the back-end, I believe we should always apply a constant precept on the entrance finish, that’s across the six-week mark that brainwaves do start,” he instructed Fox Information in April.
Chris Christie
Chris Christie, the previous New Jersey governor, instructed NBC he’s a “pro-life” candidate who helps abortion exceptions for rape, incest, or the lifetime of the mom. Christie additionally believes abortion legal guidelines ought to be left as much as the states and that the federal authorities mustn’t become involved, until “there’s consensus across the nation.”
“What I stand for … is what conservatives have been arguing for 50 years, which is that Roe was improper, there’s no federal constitutional proper to an abortion, and that the states ought to determine,” he instructed CNN in June.
Asa Hutchinson
Former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson signed a near-total abortion ban into legislation in 2021. The measure outlawed all abortions, besides these carried out to avoid wasting the lifetime of the mom. It didn’t embrace exceptions for rape or incest.
“In Arkansas, I signed over 30 pro-life payments—Arkansas was generally known as the No. 1 pro-life state within the nation,” Hutchinson stated on the marketing campaign path this 12 months on the Iowa GOP Lincoln Dinner. “I did that as governor and let me let you know, if I’m president of america, I will likely be a pro-life president.”
So far as a nationwide ban goes, Hutchinson has been inconsistent.
In Might of 2022, he instructed ABC Information {that a} nationwide ban was “inconsistent” with the a long time of Republican arguments about returning abortion coverage to the states. However in April of this 12 months, he stated he would signal a 15-week nationwide ban, with some exceptions.
“[If] a pro-life invoice that involves me that units cheap restrictions, but additionally has the suitable exceptions, sure I might signal it,” he instructed Fox Information.
In July, throughout an occasion in Iowa, he stated he thinks abortion bans ought to be left to the states, until there’s a nationwide consensus on restrictions and exceptions.
Doug Burgum
North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum signed a near-total ban on abortion into legislation in his state in April of this 12 months. The legislation bans abortion all through being pregnant, with exceptions for circumstances of rape, incest, or medical emergencies as much as six weeks of gestation. After six weeks, rape and incest victims can’t get abortions. The legislation does comprise an exception for abortions to “stop the demise or a critical well being danger” of the mom at any stage of being pregnant.
Burgum doesn’t assist a federal ban, nonetheless.
“We must always not have a federal abortion ban,” Burgum stated through the first Republican debate.
Iowa Beginning Line Senior Editor Ty Speeding contributed to this report.
