During her appearance on MSNBC’s Inside with Jen Psaki, former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi criticized Republicans for being pro-life, and suggested that the key to defeating Donald Trump in 2024 is the abortion issue.
Trump has often taken credit for the overturning of Roe v. Wade, and Pelosi believes that the Democratic Party should exploit that during the upcoming presidential election.
“Is this something Democrats should be hanging around [Trump’s] neck more?” Psaki asked.
Pelosi agreed.
“It’s a hypocrisy of the first order,” she said. “But without going into his, shall we say, inconsistencies, to use a gentler word, yeah, that’s what he’s saying. And I think that has clarity.”
.@SpeakerPelosi on Trump taking credit for the Dobbs decision: “It's an hypocrisy of the first order. But without going into his, shall we say, inconsistencies to use a gentler word, yeah, that's what he's saying. And I think that has clarity."
Full interview Sunday at 12pm ET. pic.twitter.com/bc5ftarVid
— Inside with Jen Psaki (@InsideWithPsaki) June 23, 2023
Pelosi’s position is hardly surprising. Democrats believe that the abortion issue helped them fend off a red wave in the 2022 midterm elections and clearly believe that this is an issue that can capitalize on in the 2024 election as well. To an extent, she has a point; however, part of the problem is that Republicans have allowed Democrats to define them on abortion instead of the other way around.
The fact is that polls have consistently shown that while Americans generally believe abortion should be legal, there should be limits on it. Support for abortion drops significantly each trimester. “Six in 10 U.S. adults think abortion should generally be legal in the first three months of pregnancy,” explains Gallup. “However, support drops by about half, to 28%, for abortions conducted in the second three months, and by half again, to 13%, in the final three months.” Therefore, a gestational limit of 12 to 15 weeks is actually mainstream, which means that Democrats, who support abortion until birth, are way out in the fringe.
This means Republicans can make abortion a winning issue for them by putting Democrats on the defensive. More often than not, pro-abortion Democrats are evasive on what, if any, restrictions on abortion they would support. While most Americas favor limits on abortion, the abortion lobby, which owns the Democratic Party, wants no restrictions at all.
Republicans can position themselves as more moderate and reasonable on the issue by exposing their opponents’ true views. Do they believe in unrestricted abortion up until the moment of birth? Do they believe that minors should have access to abortion without parental consent? Do they want taxpayer dollars to pay for abortions?
Consequently, Republicans can tout support for gestational limits, parental consent requirements, and restrictions on taxpayer funding and use those positions to prove just how radical Democrats are.
How do we know this can work? It already has. Several pro-life governors were successfully reelected in various states despite signing legislation imposing early gestational limits or abortion bans, including Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-Fla.), who won by a substantial margin. These outcomes suggest that their pro-life positions resonated with a majority of voters in their respective states.
“GOP pro-life candidates win in competitive races if they define their opponents as abortion extremists who support abortion on demand with NO limits, and contrast that with a clearly defined pro-life position centered around consensus such as pain-capable or heartbeat limits,” observed Marjorie Dannenfelser, the president of SBA Pro-Life America.
