From left to proper: former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley, former President Donald Trump, former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum and Vivek Ramaswamy. Republican candidates proceed to be pressed on abortion rights on the marketing campaign path.
Joe Raedle/Getty Images; Brandon Bell/Getty Images; Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images; Scott Olson/Getty Images; Justin Sullivan/Getty Images
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Joe Raedle/Getty Images; Brandon Bell/Getty Images; Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images; Scott Olson/Getty Images; Justin Sullivan/Getty Images
From left to proper: former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley, former President Donald Trump, former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum and Vivek Ramaswamy. Republican candidates proceed to be pressed on abortion rights on the marketing campaign path.
Joe Raedle/Getty Images; Brandon Bell/Getty Images; Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images; Scott Olson/Getty Images; Justin Sullivan/Getty Images
Perhaps no concern is thornier for the 2024 Republican presidential major candidates than abortion.
Republicans broadly cheered the 2022 Supreme Court choice, Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health, that overturned Roe v. Wade. But since then, they’ve discovered that going too far on abortion restrictions generally is a political legal responsibility.
The Dobbs choice and subsequent state-level legal guidelines limiting abortion entry galvanized voters who assist abortion rights. Every state poll measure on abortion rights since Dobbs has come out in favor of abortion rights, even in crimson states like Kansas, Kentucky and Ohio.
On prime of that, the GOP’s opposition to abortion rights has been blamed for Republican underperformance within the 2022 midterms, and November’s elections in Pennsylvania, Virginia and Ohio.
As a consequence, Republican presidential candidates are trying a balancing act: the way to enchantment to a celebration base that, to various levels, opposes abortion rights, with out alienating moderates, independents and common election voters who favor fewer restrictions. The consequence has been many broad statements about “defending life,” with out a entire lot of specifics about precisely what restrictions candidates favor.
For instance, former President Donald Trump, the main Republican candidate, has dodged the query of whether or not he helps a federal abortion ban, to not point out what sort of gestational limits he helps.
Meanwhile, Democrats see defending abortion rights not solely as an ethical crucial however as a approach to drive voters to the polls in 2024. Abortion rights advocates are working to place measures defending entry to the process onto ballots in 2024 in a number of swing states, within the hopes of energizing voters.
President Biden has by no means been a passionate crusader for abortion rights. But since Dobbs, he has been extra keen to marketing campaign on the difficulty. The query is how a lot it continues to drive voters in 2024, and to what diploma different points – considerations concerning the economic system, Biden and Trump’s age, overseas conflicts – take over the dialog.
Does the candidate assist a federal abortion ban?
The highest-profile query on abortion that candidates face is whether or not they would again a federal abortion ban. Before he dropped out of the race, former Vice President Mike Pence challenged his opponents to signal on to a 15-week federal ban, and several other did. (Candidates have given a variety of solutions on what number of weeks the cutoff for such a ban could be; that’s addressed in one other part under.)
Trump has been notably evasive on the query, nevertheless. He has been requested a few federal ban a number of occasions, and whereas he has by no means stated “no” outright, he has additionally frequently refused to again a federal abortion ban.
That stated, he as soon as did again a federal ban – throughout the 2016 marketing campaign, he promised to signal a 20-week federal ban if it got here to his desk as president, and in 2018, President Trump pushed Congress to cross such a ban.
So what gestational limits, if any, does the candidate assist?
Since Dobbs, states have handed a wide range of legal guidelines about how a lot to limit abortion, giving candidates many alternatives to both reward or criticize a variety of restrictions. In addition, a few of the candidates signed abortion bans as governors or supported restrictions as legislators. Below are the assorted ranges of abortion restrictions that candidates both presently assist or have supported previously.
Does the candidate assist restrictions on treatment abortion?
Prior to the Dobbs choice, treatment abortion accounted for a majority of all abortions within the U.S. Since Dobbs, abortion rights activists have been serving to sufferers, together with these in states with tight restrictions, get entry to the drugs utilized in these abortions – misoprostol and mifepristone. One technique is to ship the drugs to sufferers by means of the mail. In response, some states have handed legal guidelines trying to restrict entry to these drugs.
The president has some energy to limit or broaden entry to the drugs – Biden, for instance, signed an government order in early 2023 that protected entry to treatment abortion through telehealth appointments, and that additionally allowed pharmacies to distribute the drugs.
As president, Trump pushed to limit treatment abortion throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, asking the Supreme Court to require sufferers to go to a well being care supplier to be able to obtain the treatment.
The candidates have stated little about whether or not and the way they might hope to limit entry to the drugs as president. NPR reached out to all campaigns about their stance on this subject and has not obtained responses.
What about exceptions within the case of rape, incest or the lifetime of the pregnant individual?
While Republicans usually oppose abortion rights, many consider there needs to be particular circumstances wherein a affected person ought to have broad abortion entry – particularly, when a being pregnant outcomes from rape or incest, or when an abortion would save a pregnant affected person’s life.
Those three exceptions are in style among the many Republican candidates, however some have supported or signed legal guidelines that both don’t comprise all three exceptions, or that comprise them to restricted extents. Still, the entire remaining main candidates agree in offering these in style exceptions. But, there may be nuance amongst their positions.
- Gov. Doug Burgum, R-N.D., signed a near-total abortion ban in North Dakota that included very restricted exceptions for rape and incest, permitting victims of these crimes to get abortions solely as much as six weeks of gestation. That legislation additionally allowed for abortion in circumstances that might save a affected person’s life or stop extreme medical hurt.
- Former Gov. Chris Christie, R-N.J., advised Semafor in April 2023 that he helps exceptions in these three circumstances.
- Gov. Ron DeSantis, R-Fla., signed a six-week abortion ban that included exceptions for rape and incest as much as 15 weeks if a affected person may present documentation. The ban additionally contained an exception to save lots of a affected person’s life.
- As governor of South Carolina, former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley signed an abortion ban that contained an exception to save lots of a affected person’s life, however no exceptions for rape or incest. However, in June, a spokesperson stated she would signal a invoice that included these exceptions.
- Vivek Ramaswamy has stated he helps exceptions in these three circumstances, in keeping with Reuters.
- Former President Donald Trump has repeatedly stated on the marketing campaign path this cycle that he helps these three exceptions.