It appears that the anti-choice forces in Ohio, a Republican run state, are learning that, indeed, they are on the wrong side of history.
www.politico.com
Anti-abortion forces suffered a staggering loss in Ohio’s special election this week. Now, in the aftermath of that defeat and others over the last year, the movement is grappling with how to forge ahead.
State and national conservatives offer a litany of competing explanations for why they were massively outspent and out-organized, and are butting heads on how to turn things around before November, when abortion will be on Ohio’s ballot directly. With no consensus on the real reason for the loss in a state dominated by Republicans, some are pleading with the GOP to move away from backing near-total bans with no exemptions to stave off further electoral disaster.
“We’re going to have to live with messier compromises going forward or risk this happening again and again,” said Patrick Brown, a fellow at the conservative Ethics and Public Policy Center who called Tuesday’s result a “five-alarm fire for the pro-life movement.”
“Some think that only a total ban is acceptable. But we see, over and over again, that such an uncompromising position doesn’t have support. There’s no political appetite for that,” he said.
Staggering Ohio loss ignites an identity crisis within the anti-abortion movement
This soul-searching on the right shows how fractured the anti-abortion movement remains on both tactics and messaging more than a year after they achieved their decades-long goal of toppling Roe v. Wade.
www.politico.com
Anti-abortion forces suffered a staggering loss in Ohio’s special election this week. Now, in the aftermath of that defeat and others over the last year, the movement is grappling with how to forge ahead.
State and national conservatives offer a litany of competing explanations for why they were massively outspent and out-organized, and are butting heads on how to turn things around before November, when abortion will be on Ohio’s ballot directly. With no consensus on the real reason for the loss in a state dominated by Republicans, some are pleading with the GOP to move away from backing near-total bans with no exemptions to stave off further electoral disaster.
“We’re going to have to live with messier compromises going forward or risk this happening again and again,” said Patrick Brown, a fellow at the conservative Ethics and Public Policy Center who called Tuesday’s result a “five-alarm fire for the pro-life movement.”
“Some think that only a total ban is acceptable. But we see, over and over again, that such an uncompromising position doesn’t have support. There’s no political appetite for that,” he said.
