Republican strategists are exploring a shift away from ā€œpro-lifeā€ messaging on abortion after consistent Election Day losses for the GOP when reproductive rights were on the ballot.

At a closed-door meeting of Senate Republicans this week, the head of a super PAC closely aligned with Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., presented poll results that suggested voters are reacting differently to commonly used terms like ā€œpro-lifeā€ and ā€œpro-choiceā€ in the wake of last yearā€™s Supreme Court decision that overturned Roe v. Wade, said several senators who were in the room.

The polling, which NBC News has not independently reviewed, was made available to senators Wednesday by former McConnell aide Steven Law and showed that ā€œpro-lifeā€ no longer resonated with voters.

ā€œWhat intrigued me the most about the results was that ā€˜pro-choiceā€™ and ā€˜pro-lifeā€™ means something different now, that people see being pro-life as being against all abortions ā€¦ at all levels,ā€ Sen. Kevin Cramer, R-N.D., said in an interview Thursday.

Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., said the polling made it clear to him that more specificity is needed in talking about abortion.

ā€œMany voters think [ā€˜pro-lifeā€™] means youā€™re for no exceptions in favor of abortion ever, ever, and ā€˜pro-choiceā€™ now can mean any number of things. So the conversation was mostly oriented around how voters think of those labels, that theyā€™ve shifted. So if youā€™re going to talk about the issue, you need to be specific,ā€ Hawley said Thursday.

  • Tarquinn2049@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    Yes the specific marketing term for it is what people arenā€™t resonating with. That must be what is wrong.

    • stabby_cicada@slrpnk.net
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      1 year ago

      Yes. In Republican eyes what you said is literally correct.

      The long-term goal of Republican leadership is to ban all abortion from the moment of conception, ban all hormonal birth control (because it can prevent implantation of a fertilized embryo and therefore cause abortion), and return the question of whether to ban condoms and other barrier methods to the states.

      Republican leadership realizes the American people donā€™t support a complete abortion ban.

      Republican leadership believes the American people are wrong and itā€™s their responsibility, as Christian leaders, to protect the innocent children of America and impose a complete abortion ban anyway.

      And Republican leaders know if they go hood off and call for a complete abortion ban theyā€™ll lose power in the backlash and abortion will become even more normalized.

      So theyā€™re gradually restricting abortion rights while heavily pushing right-wing propaganda to children and teenagers - fucking PragerU is partnering with the Florida and Oklahoma Departments of Education to produce videos for school children, did you know that? - in order to shift the cultural consensus away from abortion is a right and towards abortion is a sin so that future generations of Republican leaders can complete their work and impose a total abortion ban.

      So, yes, the Republican leadership is very much aware that what they need is marketing. They know abortion bans are unpopular. Theyā€™re walking a fine line, trying to work towards a highly unpopular policy goal while still protecting their legislative control of Congress and the states, knowing their control of government would be at risk if the American people realized their actual policy goal.

      And so you have Republicans talking about ā€œpro-baby policiesā€ now. Because who doesnā€™t love babies? That sounds like WIC and infant nutrition programs and daycare and better neonatal care and all those good things that Democrats support. Hard to tell that the Republican is actually talking about forcing women to give birth to babies dead in the womb and babies with fetal defects incompatible with life, but thatā€™s the state of the national dialogue in the year of our Lord 2023.