The Republican Party line on abortion has long been standard: The value of a fertilized egg far outweighs the value of a living, breathing woman. Is this unwanted pregnancy interfering with your education plans, your ability to leave an abusive relationship, or threatening to kill you? Too bad! So deeply do Republicans value that mindless embryo that your entire life must be upended — or even ended — to preserve that precious ball of cells. But while Republicans may sacrifice the lives and futures of women to preserve embryonic life, when it comes to their own political ambitions, the calculus suddenly changes.
As reporter Areeba Shah detailed for Salon Wednesday, a whole bunch of Republicans are suddenly discovering their "deeply felt" love of embryonic life isn't quite so deep as their desire to win their elections come November. GOP campaign websites are being scrubbed of language affirming a candidate's wish to force 10-year-old rape victims to give birth. Accusations that the over 800,000 abortion patients a year are guilty of "genocide" are being shoved down the memory hole. Candidates, like Peter Thiel-boosted Senate hopeful Blake Masters, once bragged about how they'd ban abortion before the pregnancy test even registers positive. Now Masters is pretending his interest is limited to "very late-term and partial-birth abortion" only.
