After suffering a string of electoral losses on the issue of abortion, Republican lawmakers are considering moving away from the term “pro-life” to describe their position on the issue.
This week, several Senate Republicans met with strategists behind closed doors on Capitol Hill to discuss the matter, NBC News first reported Thursday.
Steven Law, a former aide to Senate minority leader Mitch McConnell (R., Ky.), reportedly presented poll results to the senators on Wednesday, showing voters increasingly viewed “pro-life” and “pro-choice” language differently since the Supreme Court’s reversal of Roe v. Wade last June.
“What intrigued me the most about the results was that ‘pro-choice’ and ‘pro-life’ means something different now, that people see being pro-life as being against all abortions … at all levels,” Senator Kevin Cramer (R., N.D.) said.
Law, who is also the head of the McConnell-tied Senate Leadership Fund super PAC, told senators in attendance to be more specific when it comes to presenting their abortion case to voters. Conveying their position on the issue is extremely important, considering some of them serve Republican-controlled states which are actively pursuing abortion restrictions.
Senator Josh Hawley (R., Mo.) echoed the importance of specificity.
“Many voters think [‘pro-life’] means you’re for no exceptions in favor of abortion ever, ever, and ‘pro-choice’ now can mean any number of things,” said Hawley. “So the conversation was mostly oriented around how voters think of those labels, that they’ve shifted. So if you’re going to talk about the issue, you need to be specific.”
“You can’t assume that everybody knows what it means,” he continued. “They probably don’t.”
Indiana senator Todd Young described the focus of the meeting as “pro-baby policies,” but there was no indication senators were encouraged to use that term. Young said he came up with the label on his own “to demonstrate my concern for babies.”
Two other Republican leaders reportedly in attendance were Wyoming senator Cynthia Lummis and Indiana senator Mike Braun.
Specific polling was not included in the NBC News report, but Gallup showed 44 percent of American respondents identify as pro-life and 52 percent identify as pro-choice this year. Compared to last year before the Dobbs decision came out, the pro-choice number is down from 55 percent and the pro-life number is up from 39 percent.
Fourteen states have banned abortion since last June, and eleven states have enacted abortion bans without exceptions for rape or incest.
E.V. Osment, vice president of communications for Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America, told National Review it’s important for Republican politicians and anti-abortion advocates to “speak with clarity and specificity on what it means to be pro-life.
“The American people deserve to know exactly where we stand and what limits on abortion we support and how we will serve mothers and their children,” said Osment. “The other side refuses to list even a single limit that they will place on abortion, we must contrast our compassionate position with the extreme pro-abortion position used by Democrats.”
“Polling indicates that when we are clear about abortion limits then voters overwhelmingly agree and respond favorably, she added, citing a recent Cygnal poll that shows 56 percent of voters in favor of a 15-week federal abortion limit. “We need strong leaders who are willing to take up the torch in defending life at the national and state level.”