Count Fox News host Sean Hannity among those who believe that Republicans may have gotten too strict on abortion in the wake of the Supreme Court overturning Roe v. Wade and sending the issue of abortion back to the states.
Motivated in large part by Democrats going to extreme levels in the opposite direction, seeking to allow abortion up to the moment of birth, many GOP-controlled states are passing heartbeat bills that severely restrict abortion after six weeks.
In a segment that featured Mike Huckabee and Tudor Dixon, Hannity pointed to a vote in Ohio to suggest that banning abortion after 15 weeks of pregnancy is a nonstarter for some voters.
(A ballot measure raising the threshold for amending the state’s constitution from a simple majority to 60% was rejected by voters in Ohio — the state will vote in November to enshrine abortion protections in its constitution.)
“We saw the vote in Ohio,” Hannity said. “The fear among many, many conservatives is this will chase away many suburban voters?”
“I do not,” Huckabee replied. “I think the problem is Republicans have done a very pitiful job of explaining that the difference is we want to protect life, Democrats want to take it right up to the point of birth. They want to butcher a fully developed child. We’ve got to take it to the Democrats. Quit playing defense. Let’s be clear about what we stand for.”
Democrats are rallying around the issue and in states like Florida are working hard to get the issue of abortion on the ballot — it will prove to be a great get-out-the-vote initiative. There is also a school of thought suggesting that the issue played a key role in the GOP’s disappointing performance in the 2022 midterms.
Dixon disagreed with Huckabee, who is a former pastor.
“Their message is very strong on this,” she said of Democrats. “They’ve won over women. We saw it. We just saw it in Ohio. We have to start fighting on the cultural side of it, and we have to fight on the issues that matter to people politically on the political side in a different way.”
Hannity concluded by quoting former President Bill Clinton, of all people.
“I think the American people – and I consider myself pro-life, I believe in the sanctity of life, but I think politically that there is – Republicans have got to say as Bill Clinton once said – I never thought I’d quote him – ‘rare,’ ‘legal,’ and I’d add the words, ‘very early in a pregnancy.’ That seems to be, politically, where the country is. Maybe I’m wrong. But we’ll see. That vote in Ohio is pretty, pretty sobering.”
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Tom Tillison grew up in Maryland before moving to Central Florida as a young teen. It is in the Sunshine State that he honed both his passion for politics and his writing skills. Tillison also contributes to BizPac Review.
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