Even with weaker language from the GOP’s controversial announcement earlier this week, there remains a stark contrast between the parties on the issue. Democrats have proclaimed themselves the party of “reproductive rights” since the Supreme Court’s decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health in 2022 overturned Roe v. Wade and gave the states the power to regulate abortion.
What’s missing in the discussion of what many conservatives call a “profound moral issue” is what abortion looks like at 12 weeks, 16 weeks or even 20 weeks, Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wisconsin) said on Washington Watch Wednesday.
“The extreme position on abortion held by Democrats would allow abortion up until the moment of birth. You have [former] Gov. [Ralph] Northam, from Virginia, who was actually willing to allow a child born alive to just perish without any care. That is the extreme position on abortion,” Johnson told show host Tony Perkins.
Northam, a pediatric neurologist by trade, served as Virginia’s 73rd governor from 2018-2022.
Misinformation on a national ban
Democrats often allege that Republicans as a party favor a national ban on abortion. In March, a White House statement said the budget released by the Republican Study Committee “endorsed a national abortion ban with zero exceptions for rape or incest.”
Instead, Donald Trump, the presumptive Republican nominee, has said repeatedly that he supports the Supreme Court’s decision to let states decide. Trump was influential in the modified GOP platform that weakened its language on the abortion topic – a move that concerns many Republicans, including Missouri's Josh Hawley.
“My concern is this platform seems to walk away from [the life issue] and walks away from traditional marriage as well, and I think both are mistakes,” Sen. Hawley told Perkins. “As this now has been returned to voters, we need all the more to say to voters, ‘You should support life. Here's why we should be advocating for life.’ We shouldn't be silent about it. We shouldn't be reticent about it. We should be advocating for it.”
Johnson said his personal belief is that life begins at conception, and that he would prefer the point of conception as the driving force for any legislation. Yet he concedes the differences of opinion, even within the Republican Party, and says compromise is important to govern effectively.
“In the current environment, Republicans have voted for protecting life up to 20 weeks. Consider what a little baby in the womb looks like at 20 weeks, which is why those of us in the pro-life movement have tried to educate the public and try and protect life as early as we can, as early as the public will accept … but that's not an abortion ban,” Johnson clarified.
The Wisconsin lawmaker argues if the truth of abortion was presented in a way that clearly illustrated the brutality to the unborn as weeks in the womb pass, the discussion would look a lot different.
“If we had that discussion, which was literally delayed for 50 years, I have faith that the American people would come down on a position in each state that we can live with,” he said.
Weakening Dobbs with abortion by mail
While Republicans deflect allegations of a push for a national ban, the entire conversation looks irrelevant if abortion pills continue to be accessed through mail – even in states that have passed laws restricting abortion.
The Supreme Court in June shot down a challenge to the continued availability of the abortion drug Mifepristone. In their 9-0 ruling, justices did not comment on the merits but said the group of pro-life physicians who brought the case lacked standing to do so because they could not prove harm to themselves.
For now, Mifepristone can be purchased online and mailed anywhere in the country.
“Most abortions in America are chemical abortions. They are achieved through these pills that are ingested, and Joe Biden changed the law regarding these abortion pills and said, ‘You don't need a prescription for it anymore. You don't need to see a doctor,’ which is medically dangerous, by the way, both of those things,” Hawley said.
The administration, Hawley continued, is undermining the Supreme Court’s Dobbs ruling and circumventing the will of elected officials in conservative states.
“The administration is saying, it doesn't matter if you live in a state where either the voters directly or elected representatives have said [they're] going to limit abortion or … not going to have abortion except for certain exceptions. The Biden administration's position is ‘We don't care. We're going to send these abortion drugs into your state regardless, so it doesn't matter what the voters say,’” Hawley remarked.
The use of abortion drugs is increasing. Medical abortion accounted for more than half of all abortions in the U.S. in 20203, KFF found.
“If this is allowed to stand, the Dobbs decision doesn’t really matter much because the people don’t have control of the issue,” Hawley said. “Federal bureaucrats control it. They’re imposing their view on us, all 50 states. I think that’s wrong.”
The Dobbs ruling means nothing if Democrats are allowed to bypass state laws, Hawley said. And that, says the senator, is why messaging from the GOP platform is so important.
“As Republicans we need to be clear, and we need to be uncompromising advocates for life,” Hawley urged.
