‘It’s The Reason We Didn’t Get More of a Majority’
Republican acknowledges legal abortion access "is a top issue for swing voters"
Legal abortion access "is a top issue for swing voters," and the jeopardy it's currently in due to those on the political right is directly responsible for Republicans not doing better in the November midterm elections, a Republican congresswoman acknowledged.
Legal access to abortion rights heated up as a political issue last summer, when the united right-wing bloc on the US Supreme Court ruled to overturn Roe v Wade, and upended half a century of national abortion rights.
That's thrown legal abortion access into doubt across a large swath of the country, as Republicans began using that Supreme Court decision as the basis to limit — or ban outright — access to abortion any and every way that they can.
Public opinion polling has consistently indicated, for decades, that large majorities of Americans support at least the abortion guarantees that had been enshrined in the landmark 1973 Roe v Wade ruling.
“Well, it's the reason we didn't get more of a majority. We should have had a dozen or two-dozen-seat majority this legislative session, but we don't because this is one of the issues that was top of mind for swing voters,” Rep Nancy Mace (R-SC) said of the abortion issue. “And when you're looking ahead to '24, whether it's keeping the majority or trying to win the White House, going to the extremes and digging in there isn't going to work for most people.”
Although House Republicans retook a majority in the November midterm elections, it was by one of the slimmest margins in modern history. Further, Democrats actually grew their majority in the Senate.
“And so, when I look at every issue, not just on Roe v. Wade but every issue, we're so divided. It's refreshing to hear Sen. Joe Manchin, who I sometimes joke he’s the most popular Republican in the Senate right now, but to hear him talk about these issues in a very refreshing, balanced way is the way both sides of the aisle need to approach every issue, including abortion,” Mace added, referring to the West Virginia Democrat, who is perhaps the most conservative Democrat in the Senate. “And I'm here, waving my hand, being a very vocal person on this and saying, 'I'm pro-life, but I'm willing to sit down and talk about how do we balance the rights of women and the right to life.'
“At some point, that infant has the right to life. And women's rights are equally important, so let's have that conversation. Let's have it in the open. Let's find a way to move together because having a divided Congress means we're supposed to be working together, but both sides are afraid of their primaries,” said Mace, now in her second term, during an interview on NBC's Meet The Press. “That's not the way we should be operating, but that’s the way the majority of people in Congress, they vote and legislate out of fear.”
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