Elections and abortion

Elections, especially in Virginia and Ohio, should convince pro-life Republicans of their need to come up with a different strategy when it comes to abortion. A no-exceptions mandate, or strictly limiting the procedure, isn’t working—in part because a new generation of younger people seem less predisposed to curtailing it.

Instead of being put on the defensive for pregnancies due to rape, incest or the life of the mother, Republicans and pro-lifers need to go on the offensive. USA Today has reported that according to the Guttmacher Institute, “Just 1 percent of women obtain an abortion because they became pregnant through rape, and less than 0.5 percent do so because of incest.”

Those who are pro-life need to do a better job of portraying the other side as the real radicals. They mostly oppose any restrictions on abortion. Pro-lifers should continue to work to protect the lives of the unborn at earlier stages. Aren’t more than 60 million U.S. abortions since 1973 enough? Are people not concerned about the decline in America’s birth rate?

Back to politics. In Virginia, Gov. Glenn Youngkin, who had been seen by some as a possible alternative to Donald Trump in the presidential contest, had campaigned hard to hold on to the slim Republican majority in the state house and flip the Democrat’s slim majority in the state Senate. He and Republicans lost both houses, dooming most of his agenda for his last two years in office, as well as his proposal to limit abortions to 15 weeks.

Redistricting in Virginia did not help Youngkin’s cause. On top of the usual large turnout by Democrats in northern Virginia, Richmond and other high-population cities, the redrawing of district lines favored Democrats. It’s fair to say that any hope of a Youngkin presidential candidacy next year is dead, if it ever was alive, because he eschewed any talk of running until the election was over. It’s now over and with filing deadlines rapidly approaching in some states, it appears over for him in 2024.

There are calls from some Republicans for RNC Chair Ronna McDaniel to resign because of continuing Republican losses, but she is not the main problem. Too many Republicans are reluctant to talk about abortion because they appear unsure or uncomfortable with their positions. The other side is anything but uncomfortable. They are deeply committed to fighting for “a woman’s right to choose” and their convictions appear to be overwhelming the pro-life position.

We live in an anti-life and increasingly lawless culture. When I was young, newspapers buried most crime stories on inside pages because there was so little of it. The rare murder made it to the front page and was the lead story on local TV. Today, even when there are multiple murders in big cities, they barely get our attention because we have become so inured to violence.

I see abortion increasingly as a reflection of our deepening decadence at many levels. It’s not the main cause of our moral decline. That means it must be dealt with at a deeper level than politics.

As expected, Democrats are celebrating their victories. It appears they will make abortion a central issue in the 2024 presidential campaign. Perhaps, Republicans should keep the focus, not on abortion, but rather on President Biden’s sagging poll numbers.