Republican presidential candidates have been hard to pin down on just how they’d set federal policy on abortion, dancing around questions or throwing out different answers at different times.
But they all agree on one thing: accusing Democrats of wanting legal abortion, “on demand,” up until the moment of birth.
It’s a claim a number of Republicans leaned on in the 2022 midterms as they tried to combat intense backlash against their party after the Supreme Court’s Dobbs decision overturned Roe v. Wade last year. Some voices in the GOP say they’re at a disadvantage on abortion because they haven’t pushed the message hard enough.
And the claim is getting new life on the 2024 campaign trail as Republican primary contenders seek to frame Democrats as “extreme” on abortion, even after Democrats successfully parried such attacks on their way to a surprisingly strong showing last year.
“They support abortion on demand with taxpayer dollars all the way up to the moment of birth,” former Vice President Mike Pence said at a town hall in Meredith, New Hampshire, last Thursday.
Pence has tried to use his anti-abortion rights stance to distinguish himself on the campaign trail, criticizing other candidates for not committing to support federal legislation.
While he told CNN in March that he would support a six-week federal ban, which would be the strictest federal proposal among the candidates, Pence has lately been calling for a 15-week federal ban while supporting stricter bans on the state level.
Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina reiterated the claim at a town hall in Manchester, New Hampshire, the day after Pence spoke, accusing the left of pushing for legal abortion “up until the day of birth.”
Scott has shifted his emphasis when he has talked about abortion in recent months — he praised a six-week abortion ban signed into law in South Carolina in May (and since held up in court) as “good news,” but he has since publicly backed only a 15-week national ban. He has also said he would sign the most conservative abortion legislation that came to his desk as president.
“I believe a 15-
