Comment Republicans hoped the public backlash to the Supreme Court’s June ruling overturning the constitutional right to abortion would be a temporary blip in a campaign season otherwise focused on the nation’s gas and grocery prices. Instead, the abortion debate has morphed and evolved over the past three weeks into less GOP-friendly terrain — the question of whether abortion should be legal for rape and incest victims or for mothers whose lives are threatened by pregnancy. Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine (R), who is facing re-election, has so far declined to comment on the law he signed that prompted a 10-year-old rape victim this month to travel to neighboring Indiana for the procedure. In Texas, Attorney General Ken Paxton filed a lawsuit Thursday to block the Biden administration’s guidance requiring doctors to perform abortions when they believe the procedure is necessary to stabilize a mother in a “medical emergency.” And in Washington, Democrats forced Republicans to oppose bills in the House and Senate that would have ensured women could travel across state lines for the procedure, after a June poll found 77 percent of Americans opposed laws that would prevent such travel. Controversies over maternal health and the consequences of rape and incest have so far confirmed the hopes of Democratic midterms to overturn a court ruling. Roe v. Wade, which guaranteed a national right to abortion for 49 years, would set off months of public debate, often state by state, over unpopular Republican efforts to restrict abortion in all cases. They hope concern over the legal changes will drive more Democratic voters to the polls and give swing voters pause before voting Republican. The record shows that the doctor fulfilled the duty to report the abortion of a 10-year-old rape victim “They seem to be very fine with risking people’s lives to make their political points. That’s something voters are picking up on,” said Christina Reynolds, vice president of Emily’s List, a group that supports pro-abortion-rights candidates. “We think he can have a real impact on almost every race we’re involved in.” Although the nation remains divided on abortion policy — with most voters agreeing to some restrictions while also opposing outright bans — there is overwhelming support for allowing abortions in cases of rape or threats to the mother’s life. A March Pew Research Center poll found that 73 percent of Americans, including 62 percent of likely Republican voters, supported legal abortion when the mother’s life was threatened. 69 percent of Americans, including 56 percent of likely Republican voters, said abortion should be legal when the pregnancy resulted from rape. Among many leading anti-abortion groups, by contrast, there is general agreement on banning abortion in cases of rape and incest, but including exceptions for threats to the mother’s life. Some major groups, however, say they have backed legislation in states that choose to allow abortions in cases of rape and incest to garner enough political favor to pass new restrictions. Abortion restrictions have gone into effect in about a dozen states since the court’s decision, which include an exception for the life of the mother. Most do not include an exception for rape or incest, with the exception of South Carolina — which includes exceptions for both — and Mississippi’s enabling law, which has a rape exception, according to The Guttmacher Institute, a research group that advocates abortion rights. “We understand that issues like rape and incest are difficult issues to deal with. However, we believe that the value of human life is not determined by the circumstances of conception or birth,” nearly 20 anti-abortion groups — including Students for Life of America and the Family Research Council — wrote in a 2019 letter to Ronna Romney. McDaniel, chairman of the Republican National Committee. Rape and incest exemptions are often debated on the floor of state legislatures before lawmakers vote on a bill. But they often don’t make it into law, according to Elizabeth Nash, senior policy fellow at Guttmacher. Shortly before the Supreme Court’s decision, the National Right to Life Commission released a model bill restricting abortion for Republican state lawmakers to consider. “We recommend banning abortion except to prevent the death of the pregnant woman, which has been the accepted policy option of the pro-life movement since 1973 and for many years prior,” says an introduction to the model law written by James Bopp Jr. , the NRLC general counsel and associates. The text of the model law notes that “it may be necessary in some states to have additional exceptions” and suggests suggestions for language around rape and incest exceptions. On Thursday, Politico published a story that said Bopp said the 10-year-old rape victim in Ohio should have ended her pregnancy and should have done so under the group’s model law. In an interview with the Washington Post, however, he repeatedly insisted that he does not oppose states including rape and incest laws. “If the legislature decides they need or should have something extra, like rape or incest, that’s a pro-life position, and we’ve proposed language that we think they should consider,” Bopp said. Asked if the 10-year-old should have carried the pregnancy to term, he said: “I think abortion should be legal if it’s life-threatening and in cases with proper safeguards, rape and incest, and then it’s her decision. these conditions”. The 10-year-old girl in question traveled to Indiana in June for an abortion after her pregnancy lasted more than six weeks, around the time when fetal heart activity can usually be detected. Ohio law prohibits the process after that point, including in cases of rape and incest. A 27-year-old man was arrested Tuesday in Ohio after he allegedly confessed to authorities that he raped the girl. Many Republicans and conservatives, after initially questioning whether the case was true, have since attacked the Indiana doctor in the case, with Ohio Attorney General Todd Rokita (R) saying he is considering prosecuting the doctor for not reporting the case. However, records show the OB/GYN, Caitlin Bernard, had reported the case as required by Indiana law. “There are going to be scarier stories,” said David Axelrod, a former general of former President Barack Obama. “It’s inevitable that the worst manifestations of these extreme laws will begin to appear in many states, and each time they do it’s another reminder of how far Republicans have gone.” However, there is tension among Democrats on the path to strengthening access to abortion. For weeks, some in the party have been urging the Biden administration to declare a public health emergency and overstep the bounds of the legal fight for abortion rights. Two Big Weeks: Inside Biden’s Struggle to Respond to Abortion Ruling Responding to the outpouring of criticism, White House communications director Kate Bedingfield told The Post that “Joe Biden’s goal in responding to Dobbs is not to satisfy some activists who are out of step with the Democratic Party mainstream.” On Friday, the Congressional Progressive Caucus released a list of new executive actions, including allowing undocumented people and those who help them to travel without risk of detention and requiring hospitals to perform abortions or lose Medicare funding – policies that could be divisive. Ohio Republican Senate candidate JD Vance is facing $1.4 million in TV ads from a Democratic-leaning group, FF Pac. They include a spot calling Vance “one of the most extreme anti-abortion voices in America” for saying “two wrongs don’t make a right” when asked to explain his opposition to abortion in cases of rape and incest. “The issue is not whether a woman should be forced to give birth to a child, but whether a child should be allowed to live, even though the circumstances of that child’s birth are somehow inconvenient or a problem for society,” he said. Vance at Spectrum News. Columbus in September 2021. A Vance campaign spokesman said Friday that the candidate supports an exemption only in cases where the mother’s life is at risk. Republicans remain confident that abortion will not derail their hopes of taking control of the House and Senate this fall. They have pointed in recent weeks to multiple polls showing concerns about the economy and inflation at levels many times higher than abortion. “While abortion is an issue people care about, the data makes it clear that it is not among the top issues that will drive voting behavior in November,” a recent memo from the Republican State Leadership Committee advises candidates. “Instead, this election will be about Biden’s failed economy.” Sen. James Lankford (R-Okla.) on Thursday accused Democrats of trying to scare voters and argued that there was more to the debate than expectant mothers’ rights. “The debate today is not just about women. There are two people in this conversation — a child with ten fingers and ten toes and a beating heart and DNA that is uniquely different from mom or dad’s DNA,” he said in a Senate statement opposing a bill of Democrats to allow interstate travel for abortion. “They have a nervous system. They feel pain. He is also a child in this discussion.” The debate in Texas has shifted to the difference between the state law and the federal rule. State laws have an exception to the ban on abortion when a mother is “at risk of death or serious danger . . .
