Midterm Elections Heat Up As Democrats Refuse To Position On Abortion, GOP Softens Rhetoric

Democratic candidates are refusing to define where they draw the line on abortion as Republicans face scrutiny for softening their abortion rhetoric in a post-Roe v. Wade landscape.

Refusals to define where Democrats stand on abortions allow Republicans to insist that their opponents support abortions without limits — a stance that many of these candidates have actually voted for through their support for the Women’s Health Protection Act.

“Democrats’ agenda of imposing abortion on demand until birth nationwide — including late-term abortions when unborn children feel excruciating pain, all paid for by taxpayers — is radical and out of step with 90% of the voters in this country,” Marjorie Dannenfelser, President of Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America, told The Daily Wire.

“For Republicans, running from this issue and leaving the field to their opponents and the media, who will fill in the blanks, is a sure-fire losing strategy,” she added. “It’s time to go on offense and expose the Democrats’ extremism. Challenge them to name a single limit on abortion at any point in pregnancy that they would support.”

In Texas, gubernatorial candidate Beto O’Rourke refused to say whether he supported a single restriction on abortion — including gruesome partial birth abortion procedures. “I trust women and their doctors to make their decisions about their body, about their healthcare, and about their future,” he insisted.

AWFUL: @BetoORourke supports no limits on abortion, won’t even speak against partial birth abortion.
Let’s be clear what that means. He supports abortion until the time of birth, paid for by tax dollars. https://t.co/WfKBzWpmrD

— Jeanne F. Mancini (@jeannemfl) August 26, 2022

Tim Ryan similarly shrugged off the question in Ohio, saying he believed it should be up to the mother.

“Of course we don’t support abortion at the end of term, unless of course, there is extraordinary circumstance,” he said, before describing the late term abortion of a baby whose parents have already prepared a nursery.

“Tim Ryan is desperately trying to hide his radical position on taxpayer-funded late-term abortion because he knows his beliefs are too extreme for Ohio,” Republican Senate candidate JD Vance’s campaign told The Daily Wire on Wednesday.

“The idea that federal funding should go to kill a baby that’s 40 weeks old is acceptable in just two places: China and North Korea,” the Ohio candidate’s campaign added. “That’s the policy Tim Ryan supports, it’s the policy he has voted for. We’re going to make sure that Ohioans are aware of those positions, and they’re going to soundly reject that insanity come November.”

Watch as Ohio Democrat Tim Ryan squirms when pressed over his support for abortion right up to moment of birth. pic.twitter.com/3woHwOjflX

— MRCTV (@mrctv) August 30, 2022

In Pennsylvania, John Fetterman admitted he did not believe there should be any limits on abortion. “I don’t believe so, no,” he said — comments which Dr. Mehmet Oz’s campaign manager Brittany Yanick told The Daily Wire are “extremely radical.” Fetterman did not respond to requests for comment.

Strong support for unlimited abortion has increasingly become a litmus test for Democratic politicians (during the most recent presidential election cycle, then Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders insisted that “being pro-choice is an essential part” of being a Democrat).

Pressure for Democratic candidates to fully support abortion was so strong during the election cycle that President Joe Biden abandoned his former support for the Hyde Amendment, which bans the use of federal funding for abortions, after strong backlash from pro-abortion groups, left-wing activists, and his fellow candidates — including his now vice president.

This leaves Democratic candidates in a quandary: they face an increasingly ideological party demanding adherence to its abortion stances and an American public largely opposed to such radical measures.

And rather than admit that they agree with the party line, many candidates (including President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris) have opted to avoid addressing specifics on abortion restrictions, as March for Life President Jeanne Mancini pointed out to The Daily Wire on Wednesday.

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