“Since Roe v. Wade, Republicans, by and large, want to bury their heads in the sand, hoping that nobody is really paying attention. But that’s not what’s happening. Millions of women, millions and millions of women, were outraged over it.”
This observation — or warning — wasn’t made by a left-leaning political pundit but by the staunchly anti-abortion Congresswoman Nancy Mace of South Carolina. While she proudly touts a solid pro-life voting record, Mace has long sounded the alarm that political agendas centered on extreme abortion restrictions lose elections. She’s right.
For nearly 50 years, abortion wasn’t the primary issue driving voters to the polls because Roe’s protections prevented radical candidates from fulfilling their campaign promises to annihilate reproductive freedoms. But less than a year since Roe fell, it’s an issue that has galvanized millions of Americans. After the 2022 midterms, the Kaiser Family Foundation found that almost half of all voters nationwide said overturning Roe v. Wade had a major effect on the candidates they supported. Exit polls showed that voters in some swing states ranked abortion as the most critical issue in that election.
