In one state, Republican women filibustered to block a near-total abortion ban introduced by their own party. In another, the Republican co-sponsor of a six-week abortion ban subsequently tanked his own bill. On the federal level
, a Republican congresswoman warns that the GOP’s abortion stance could mean “losing huge” in 2024.
internal divisions within the Republican party on the issue are starting to show.
Divisions became most apparent last week in the deep red states of
South Carolina and Nebraska, where Republicans roundly rejected further attempts to curtail abortion rights last week.
In South Carolina on Thursday, all five female senators – three of them Republican – led a filibuster that ultimately blocked a bill which would have banned abortion from conception with very few exceptions.
That was the third time a near-total ban on abortion has failed in the Republican-dominated senate in South Carolina since Roe was overturned last summer.
In
Nebraska, an attempt to bring a six-week abortion ban failed by a single vote in the majority Republican chamber. Merv Riepe, a Republican senator who had initially co-sponsored the bill chose to withhold his vote on Thursday, becoming an unlikely player in the bill’s demise, having voted in its favor as recently as two weeks prior.
“There is a tension between the base of the Republican party and moderate Republicans. The hardcore base wants outright bans on abortion. But the broader electorate, and certainly a substantial amount of right-leaning independents and moderate Republicans, want to keep abortion legal but rare,” said Marson.
Those tensions are certainly becoming
clear on the national stage, with growing numbers of Republicans sounding the alarm that the party should not lean too far right on abortion, especially since last year’s midterms showed a string of
victories for abortion rights that seem to suggest the party’s stance on the issue is out of sync with the general public.
Recent weeks have also seen a number of Republican presidential hopefuls trying to walk back the party’s stance on abortion. Last week, the former South Carolina governor Nikki Haley asked the party for a “
humanizing, not demonizing” conversation on abortion. Donald Trump has indicated he thinks a federal abortion ban – touted by
Senator Lindsey Graham last year –
a losing proposal for 2024.
Following a supreme court decision to keep access to a crucial drug in medication abortions widely available for the time being, the Republican congresswoman Nancy Mace said told ABC she agreed with the ruling.
As states continue to bring in tighter restrictions on abortion, internal divisions within the GOP are starting to show
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