Republican National Committee Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel urged candidates to stand strong for the rights of unborn babies in an interview Sunday, saying they must address the issue “head on” and expose how extreme Democrat leaders really are.
Her comments pushed back against some lawmakers’ claims that the Republican Party needs to weaken its stance on abortion if candidates want to win more elections.
Speaking with Fox News Sunday, McDaniel said the real problem is not Republicans’ pro-life position; it’s the candidates who chose to stay silent on abortion, Axios reports.
“Abortion was a big issue in key states like Michigan and Pennsylvania,” McDaniel said. “So the guidance we’re going to give to our candidates is you have to address this head on.”
Not talking about abortion hurt Republicans in the midterms, especially among independent voters, McDaniel continued, according to Newsmax. In contrast, states where lawmakers passed and defended strong legal protections for unborn babies did well in November, including in many governors’ races, Florida and Texas.
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McDaniel said Democrats are making abortion a major focus of their campaigns, and Republicans must be prepared to focus on it, too.
“The Democrats spent $360 million on this and many of our candidates across the board refused to talk about it, thinking, oh, we can just talk about the economy and ignore this big issue, and they can’t,” she said.
McDaniel made a similar plea during a speech last week at the Reagan Library, saying Republican candidates must be prepared to defend protections for unborn babies.
“Let’s talk about abortion, which has become a huge issue coming after the Dobbs decision,” McDaniel said. “When you don’t respond, the lies become the truth.”
She pointed to polls that show a strong majority of Americans support what Republicans want to do: pass a national law to protect unborn babies from abortion after 15 weeks. Most countries across the world prohibit abortions after this point.
Last week, a new NPR poll found 67 percent believe abortions only should be allowed, at most, up to the first three months of pregnancy. A strong minority, 41 percent, would prohibit all abortions or allow them only in cases of rape, incest or to save the mother’s life.
A recent poll from UMass Amherst found a 5-percent drop in those who say Congress should pass a law to make abortions legal nation-wide and a 6-percent increase in support for a national abortion ban, WCVB News reports. Another recent Marist College poll found 69 percent of Americans support limiting or banning abortions.
LifeNews highlighted 25 additional recent polls showing most Americans believe all or most abortions should be illegal and taxpayers should not be forced to fund the killing of unborn babies. Many other polls show strong public support for informed consent laws and parental consent for minors, too.
But the Democratic Party opposes all of this. They recently introduced legislation nicknamed the Abortion Without Limits Up to Birth Act that would force states to legalize killing unborn babies in abortions for basically any reason and allow young girls to get abortions – or be coerced by an abuser – without their parents’ knowledge or consent.
