Republicans Are Divided Over Abortion Issue. Image Courtesy – The New York Times
A tug-of-war has been continuing in the US between Republicans and Conservatives. Republicans, want to ban abortion and they have been trying for decades. The Republicans can do that. But, Conservatives lawmakers are taking the stand to disagree on how extreme to make the restrictions.
The passionate anti-abortion lawmakers are propelling legislation without any expectation for pregnancies resulting from rape or incest. Some Republicans are backing away from hardline abortion bills in the country. They are suggesting an unmentioned acknowledgment that most Americans do not support strict restrictions like this. Others are trying to maintain a balance by selling aggressive measures – like bans on abortion after 15 weeks. They expressed it as the new middle ground in the light of the no-exceptions bans.
A round of tensions played out in Congress this week while a Senator named Lindsey Graham, a Republican from South Carolina initiated a national 15-week ban surprising of his colleagues. In another incident in West Virginia, Republican state lawmakers reached a settlement on limited exceptions to a near-total abortion ban after coming to a cessation in July over the details of a similar ban.
These developments in the law came just days after South Carolina lawmakers angrily debated a near-total abortion ban only to cast aside the legislation because they could not come to a unanimous decision on which exceptions to include.
The issue is now on top of the mind of a lot of voters as the midterm elections approach. This is to watch how the Republicans maintain their role in observing the public reactions to these laws.
Read: Texas law on abortion creates uproar
There are several issues in the voter’s mind:
(i) Should rape and incest victims are exempted from abortion bans?
(ii) What about people with lethal fetal anomalies?
(iii) Should the government impose imprisonment on doctors and other medical providers who violate abortion bans?
(iv) How should Republicans maintain their role?
The Republicans are deciding for the 1st time since the 1970s what the abortion issue looks like in America without an assured right to the policy. That is why the Republicans debate on these policies and settle on several compromises. How the Republicans will settle these debates will have a direct effect on the health care facilities of the pregnant people and also create a complicated twist of laws on a wide variety of other medical care for millions of families throughout the country.
