The anti-abortion movement didn’t win everything last week, but it didn’t lose — that was enough to encourage activists that it was on the right track for future gains. For the first time since the Dobbs decision, voters rejected several abortion rights ballot measures. (A majority of Floridians voted for an abortion amendment, but it fell shy of the 60% passage requirement.) States holding their first elections since total abortion bans were enacted didn’t shift to the left. And Donald Trump’s strategic non-answers about abortion, including distancing himself from conservative plans to use existing law to limit it, didn’t hurt him at all.
Marjorie Dannenfelser, the founder of Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America, had wanted more from Trump. Her group had urged Republicans to support a specific 15-week federal abortion ban, at a minimum; Trump never did. But he won, and will take office as the first Republican president in a post-Roe world. She talked about that with Americana, and this is an edited transcript of the conversation.
Americana: What’s it mean that Republicans won the first post-Roe election, that “Roevember” didn’t happen?
Marjorie Dannenfelser: It means a couple of things. One, it doesn’t matter how much money you put behind untruths, $570 million on their side and $37 million on ours. It is not popular to have no limits, without any compromise. Two, the post-Dobbs backlash has ceased or abated, and there’s actual discernment going on. The scare tactics were not successful. That clears the path for actual conversation about where a nation wants to land, and where states want to land on this…
When the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, our movement was given a historic opportunity. But the battle for life became much more difficult.
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