{"id":25624,"date":"2024-09-21T14:58:32","date_gmt":"2024-09-21T20:58:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.durangoherald.com\/tj\/euphoric-two-years-ago-anti-abortion-movement-is-divided-and-worried\/"},"modified":"2024-09-21T20:58:32","modified_gmt":"2024-09-21T20:58:32","slug":"euphoric-two-years-ago-anti-abortion-movement-is-divided-and-worried","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.durangoherald.com\/tj\/euphoric-two-years-ago-anti-abortion-movement-is-divided-and-worried\/","title":{"rendered":"Euphoric two years ago, anti-abortion movement is divided and worried"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\"Anti-abortion
Anti-abortion signs lean agains a fence outside a recently opened Planned Parenthood clinic in Pittsburg, Kan., Tuesday, Sept. 10, 2024. (AP Photo\/Charlie Riedel)<\/span>(AP Photo\/Charlie Riedel)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Just two years ago, leading anti-abortion activists were euphoric as the U.S. Supreme Court overturned the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision<\/a>, ending the nationwide right to abortion.<\/p>\n

Now, with a presidential election fast approaching, their movement is disunited and worried. Within their own ranks, there is second-guessing and finger-pointing, plus trepidation that Election Day might provide new proof that their cause is broadly unpopular.<\/p>\n

Michael New, an abortion opponent who teaches social research at The Catholic University of America, offered an overview of how the movement had fared since the Roe ruling in June 2022.<\/p>\n

\u201cThings have not necessarily unfolded as we would hope,\u201d he wrote in an email to The Associated Press. \u201cThere is certainly a sense among pro-life leaders that we should have had a stronger post-Roe game plan in place.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI always remind fellow pro-lifers that we were never promised a smooth glide path to victory,\u201d he added. \u201cThere will certainly be setbacks and disappointments along the way.\u201d<\/p>\n

A key reason for the wariness is the anti-abortion movement\u2019s recent losing streak on abortion-related ballot measures in seven states, including conservative Kansas and Kentucky. Nine more states will consider constitutional amendments enshrining abortion rights<\/a> in the Nov. 5 election \u2013 Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Maryland, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada and South Dakota. In several of them, abortion opponents tried various unsuccessful strategies<\/a> for blocking the measures.<\/p>\n

\u201cPro-life people don\u2019t wear rose-colored glasses; we know we have a huge task ahead of us,\u201d Carol Tobias, president of National Right to Life, told the AP. \u201cBecause of the massive amounts of money being dumped into the ballot measures from those allied with the abortion industry and the Democratic Party, it\u2019s an uphill battle.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe will continue to educate, to make people aware of the catastrophic result if these measures pass,\u201d she added. \u201cI have not seen flagging energy or any loss of determination among pro-life people.\u201d<\/p>\n

Texas is among the Republican-governed states that have enacted near-total abortion bans<\/a>. Yet nationally, Texas Right to Life president John Seago said, the anti-abortion movement \u201cis in a critical chapter right now.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cFollowing a historic legal victory, we have realized that while we had enjoyed massive legislative and legal victories in the last decade, public opinion had not followed the same trajectory,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

Troy Newman, who heads the anti-abortion group Operation Rescue, recently published an online opinion piece<\/a> assailing the movement he\u2019s been a part of for 25 years.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe tide has turned, and the pro-life message is now considered a political liability that could prevent President Donald Trump\u2019s victorious return to the White House,\u201d Newman wrote.<\/p>\n

\u201cAfter evaluating the terrible mistakes of the pro-life movement over the last several years, I can only conclude that it is our fault,\u201d Newman wrote. \u201cWe have had over 50 years to change the culture\u2019s position on abortion only to have failed miserably.\u201d<\/p>\n

In an interview with the AP, Newman blamed those in his own ranks for the predicament \u2013 saying some anti-abortion leaders should have been more adamant in their positions. \u201cWe lose the minute we stop focusing on the babies,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Kristan Hawkins, leader of Students for Life of America, suggested via email that Newman\u2019s views were ill-suited to the post-Roe era. She said the students in her organization were embracing the challenges of a state-by-state playing field.<\/p>\n

But she acknowledged the magnitude of the challenges.<\/p>\n

\u201cI actually believe the biggest threat is ourselves \u2013 our mindsets \u2013 which will lead to decreased recruitment, training, and mobilization of our grassroots army of love,\u201d she wrote recently<\/a> in the conservative outlet Townhall.<\/p>\n

\u201cLook at the struggles we face this fall with several late-term abortion ballot referendums,\u201d she added. \u201cMost will likely be a political loss for our movement because, in most states, a politically sophisticated, organized, and well-funded statewide movement is not present.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hawkins also acknowledged the anger among some anti-abortion activists over the inconsistent rhetoric on abortion coming from the Republican presidential ticket of former President Donald Trump and his running mate, Ohio Sen. JD Vance.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m not here to make apologies for the Campaign and their political miscalculations, which are dividing us and could very well lead to their defeat,\u201d wrote Hawkins.<\/p>\n

Trump nominated the Supreme Court members who were crucial to overturning Roe and called it \u201ca beautiful thing to watch\u201d as various states took different directions. He has been evasive on whether he would veto a federal abortion ban<\/a> if Congress approved one; his \u201cleave it to the states\u201d approach conveys acceptance of the current patchwork map in which abortion is widely available in at least half the states.<\/p>\n

Eligible to vote in Florida, Trump has criticized as too restrictive a new state law banning abortion<\/a> after the first six weeks of pregnancy. But he said he would vote against the ballot measure<\/a> that would make abortion legal until fetal viability.<\/p>\n

Trump\u2019s support for a state-by-state solution was a factor in the decision of Charles Camosy, an anti-abortion Catholic academic, to declare he now feels politically estranged.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Republican Party has rejected our point of view. Democrats are running a candidate (Kamala Harris)<\/a> who has made abortion rights a centerpiece of her campaign,\u201d Camosy, a medical humanities professor at Creighton University School of Medicine, wrote recently in The Atlantic.<\/p>\n

\u201cPro-lifers \u2013 those who believe that protecting vulnerable and unborn life should be a primary policy priority \u2013 now do not fit in either major political party.\u201d<\/p>\n

In an interview, Camosy said abortion-rights supporters were better prepared for the post-Roe era than their adversaries<\/p>\n

\u201cThey were well-funded, they developed key relationships with the media,\u201d Camosy said, while some Republican-controlled legislatures \u2013 in his view \u2013 went too far with stringent abortion bans.<\/p>\n

\u201cI see this moment as an opportunity,\u201d Camosy wrote in The Atlantic. \u201cPro-life 3.0 must welcome people from multiple political and policy perspectives, working for both prenatal justice and social support for women and families.\u201d<\/p>\n

Some other anti-abortion activists have forcefully renounced Trump, including leaders of End Abortion Ohio.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe call on God-fearing American voters to withhold their votes from Trump until he evidences genuine repentance for his pro-abortion stance,\u201d said the group\u2019s executive director, Nicholas Kallis.<\/p>\n

However, Ohio Right to Life president Mike Gonidakis is encouraging support for Trump.<\/p>\n

\u201cA vast majority of our statewide membership absolutely support President Donald Trump and believe he would advance the protection of life at the federal level \u2026 more than a Kamala administration would,\u201d he said. \u201cIt is not even close.\u201d<\/p>\n

Other anti-abortion leaders have made similar calculations.<\/p>\n

One example: Back in April, Marjorie Dannenfelser, president of Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America, said she was \u201cdeeply disappointed\u201d<\/a> in Trump\u2019s willingness to leave abortion policy to the states.<\/p>\n

These days, in a move potentially benefiting Trump, the group plans a $92 million voter outreach program in battleground states depicting Harris and other Democratic candidates as \u201cextremists\u201d on abortion.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is imperative that the pro-life movement fully unify and mobilize to defeat this threat,\u201d Dannenfelser said.<\/p>\n

Among those embracing Trump is Frank Pavone, who continues to lead Priests for Life despite being defrocked in 2022<\/a> after feuding with his bishop over his anti-abortion and partisan political activities.<\/p>\n

\u201cTrump has brought in far more people than he has alienated,\u201d Pavone said via email. \u201cHis statements have blunted the effectiveness of the dire, scaremongering Democrat warnings that the Republicans will ban all abortions.\u201d<\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

Associated Press religion coverage receives support through the AP\u2019s collaboration<\/a> with The Conversation U.S., with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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