Republicans soften stance abortion, 'abortion abolitionists' go farther

This episode explores the evolving stances within the Republican party regarding abortion rights, highlighting the tension between mainstream approaches and the radical views of 'abortion abolitionists'.

1. Some Republicans are moderating their stance on abortion to adapt to broader public opinion and political viability.
2. Abortion abolitionists are pushing for more extreme measures, including criminalizing abortion and IVF.
3. The episode highlights the legal and social implications of recent Supreme Court decisions and state laws on abortion.
4. It presents diverse viewpoints from activists, politicians, and experts on the evolving landscape of abortion rights.
5. The public's reaction is mixed, reflecting deep divisions and the charged nature of abortion debates.

1: Opening Remarks

Mary Louise Kelly discusses the historical context and recent changes in abortion policy. Mary Louise Kelly: "Two years ago next month, the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade."

2: Abolitionist Perspectives

Rachel Martin introduces the stance of abolitionists who aim to end all forms of abortion. Rachel Martin: "To which the abolitionist replies, to all of these we will not be silent."

3: Legal and Social Implications

Discussion on the upcoming Supreme Court decisions and their potential impact on abortion access. Tessa Longbons Cox: "By recklessly removing in person medical visits, abortion advocates have put women's health and safety last."

4: Political Ramifications

Exploration of the political consequences for Republicans softening or hardening their abortion stances. Mary Louise Kelly: "A decision further restricting abortion rights would be a victory for much of the anti-abortion rights movement."

5: Abolitionist Actions and Rhetoric

Coverage of protests and the aggressive tactics of abolitionists outside IVF clinics. Matthew Wiersma: "We want to ban IVF. We want to criminalize IVF."

1. Educate yourself on the legal status of abortion and IVF in your state.
2. Engage in respectful dialogues to understand diverse perspectives on abortion.
3. Support or volunteer for organizations that align with your views on reproductive rights.
4. Stay informed about local and national legislative changes regarding abortion.
5. Consider the impact of your political choices on reproductive rights in upcoming elections.

Abortion Rights has been a motivating political issue for generations, and this year might be the most intense for those on both sides of the issue.

NPR's Sarah McCammon reports on the anti-abortion rights activists who want to ramp up restrictions, criminalize patients who pursue abortions, and ban procedures like IVF.

People

Mary Louise Kelly, Rachel Martin, Tessa Longbons Cox, Matthew Wiersma

Content Warnings:

None

Mary Louise Kelly
Two years ago next month, the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, the historic decision guaranteeing a federal right to an abortion. This morning, the radical Supreme Court is eviscerating american rights and endangering their health and safety. For the anti abortion rights movement and the Republicans who supported overturning the landmark decision, it was a victory decades in the making. You know, today's Supreme Court decision in Dobbs is the most important pro life ruling in american history by a vote of six.

But for anti abortion rights opponents, it's a fight that's unfinished. The gutless coward pro life Republican will tell you abolition is too hard. Quit pestering us. The compromised and faithless professing Christian will say, why can't you just be happy with our incremental regulation of murder? We're doing good things, aren't we?

Rachel Martin
To which the abolitionist replies, to all of these we will not be silent. We cannot. Up next, an effort to ban a drug commonly used in medical abortions, mifepristone. In several states, the drug can be prescribed in a telehealth appointment and sent through the mail. A woman never has to be seen in person by a physician.

Tessa Longbons Cox
Nationally, extreme policies are boosting abortion rates, including a sharp increase in dangerous mail order abortion drugs in violation of pro life state laws. Tessa Longbons Cox is a senior research associate at Charlotte Lozier Institute, which opposes abortion. By recklessly removing in person medical visits and safeguards, abortion advocates have put women's health and safety last. But opponents of abortion rights like Cox are awaiting a Supreme Court decision on the use of mifepristone, and millions of Americans have use methopristone to safely end their pregnancies. Respondents may not agree with that choice, but that doesn't give them article three standing or a legal basis to upend the regulatory scheme due next month, the court could issue a decision that would restrict use of the drug, which would further restrict abortion access.

Mary Louise Kelly
That's not all. So called abortion abolitionists want to go further. Members of the movement also want to see abortion criminalized and IVF in vitro fertilization bant. But unlike the fight to overturn Roe v. Wade, some prominent Republicans are prominently not on board Republicans like former presidential candidate Senator Ted Cruz.

A simple, straightforward federal bill that creates a federal right that you as a parent have a right to have access to IVF. Consider this a decision further restricting abortion rights would be a victory for much of the anti abortion rights movement. But for Republicans who have supported the cause in the past, a political liability come November.

From NPR, I'm Mary Louise Kelly.

Rachel Martin
I'm Rachel Martin. You probably know how interview podcasts with famous people usually go. There's a host, a guest, and a light Q and A. But on Wildcard, we have ripped up the typical script. It's a new podcast from NPR where I invite actors, artists and comedians to play a game using a special deck of cards to talk about some of life's biggest questions.

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Mary Louise Kelly
It's consider this from NPR. We are continuing to focus on the issues driving people to the polls in our election year series, we the voters, this week. Abortion. Abortion rights has been a motivating political issue for generations, and this year might be the most intense for those on both sides of the issue. NPR Sarah McCammon reports on the anti abortion rights activists who want to ramp up restrictions, criminalize patients who pursue abortions, and ban procedures like IVF.

Rachel Martin
For decades, protests outside clinics that offer abortions have been a pretty common scene in many communities around the country. Less common protests at fertility clinics that offer the procedure known as IVF. How many children are in the freezer here? How many? That demonstration took place outside a fertility clinic in Charlotte, North Carolina, last month.

Dozens of protesters lined both sides of the street as one of them preached and shouted Bible verses toward the closed front door. The fruit of the womb is the reward. They were organized by a group of activists who described themselves as abortion abolitionists who recently spent a long weekend in Charlotte meeting and strategizing. Matthew Wiersma, who's 32, is from Gainesville, Georgia. We want to ban IVF.

We want to criminalize IVF. Using the language of the anti slavery movement, abortion abolitionists like Wirzema say they oppose all abortions, no exceptions. Many are also speaking out against IVF at a time when most Republicans are stressing their support for the procedure. I strongly support the availability of IVF for couples who are trying to have a precious little beautiful baby. Speaking in February, former President Donald Trump noted that most Americans, including most who oppose abortion rights, support access to IVF.

His comments came after Alabama's Supreme Court ruled that embryos created through the process should be legally considered children. Republicans there rushed to pass a law designed to protect providers from legal consequences. Pro lifers are scared to death of that because IVF has not been thought about. T. Russell Hunter leads abolitionist rising, a group of activists that hosted last month's gathering in North Carolina.

He accuses mainstream anti abortion groups of being too willing to accept incremental restrictions and inconsistent in their message. You can't say life begins at conception, okay? But we're going to allow abortion in the first five weeks, you know? Well, if life begins at conception and you believe that human life must be protected, well, you're stuck logically. Hunter, who is based in Oklahoma, opposes IVF, which often produces extra embryos that are then frozen or destroyed, and he believes that embryos should have legal rights.

Speaking to activists last month, Hunter said, that means charging patients who seek abortions and anyone who helps them with murder. So we think, and we know that the mother is the abortionist or the father is the abortionist. Whoever it is that's the abortionist needs to be punished. And we're not going to lie about it in order to be friends with the world, because that is precisely what the pro life movement's done and is doing. That's a departure from the longstanding public position of most anti abortion rights groups, who've argued that women seek abortions under duress and that penalties for violating abortion laws should target providers, not patients themselves.

Mary Zeigler is a law professor at the University of California, Davis. And increasingly on the pro choice side, you have voices of people saying either, you know, abortion is really important healthcare and there's nothing wrong with it, women understand what it is and choose it, or people in the abortion storytelling world saying, you know, I felt no regret about abortion. I felt relieved. I felt happy, you know, these statements that I think abolitionists also have really weaponized. Christine Harhoff lives in Texas and has been involved in anti abortion activism for well over a decade.

Mary Louise Kelly
We're dealing with different types of women. She says she's met women who were reluctant to help have abortions, but so. Many other women who are loud and proud and, you know, like we had, what was it, a year ago? Two years ago, the mothers were taking the abortion pills on the steps of the Supreme Court on national tv. You know, they were not ashamed at all.

Rachel Martin
Harhoff says she's frustrated that even after the fall of Roe v. Wade, even in Texas, where abortion is banned, women are still taking abortion pills. She's been talking with lawmakers in Texas and neighboring states like Louisiana and Oklahoma, trying to promote legislation that would treat abortion as identical to homicide. And the penalty could be anything from nothing at all if she was truly innocent, truly forced into that abortion to a fine or community service, to, yes, some jail time and possibly even the death penalty if the court, the judge, the jury all deemed that to be an appropriate penalty for that particular situation. Harhoff's position is by far the minority, even among abortion rights opponents like Kristen Hawkins, president of Students for Life of America, a major anti abortion group that opposes prosecuting patients.

I don't think that, you know, that's our focus or has been or will be our focus. Hawkins describes abortion abolitionists as social media trolls who do more harm than good and don't represent the mainstream of her movement. The pro life movement opposes throwing mothers in jail who we believe are the second victims of abortion. Does that mean that every single mother doesn't know what's happening? No, that doesn't, that doesn't mean there are some mothers who, I agree, likely know that abortion kills a human child.

But that's not the strategy that's going to end abortion in our country. On the subject of IVF, Hawkins group and others have raised ethical concerns. She's described the fertility industry as underregulated. Rachel Bittacofer, a democratic political strategist, says the line between the mainstream anti abortion movement and the abolitionists is quite thin. You know, if you radicalize people and tell them to gain power, and that's what republicans did, they've been targeting those folks for 25, 30 years now with ever increasing hyperbolic rhetoric about abortion.

So if you accept that abortion is murder, then it makes sense that you have pretty rigid requirements to stop it, you know, at all costs. So far, abortion abolitionists have been mostly unsuccessful in pushing through laws that define abortion as homicide. But they've made some strides in state legislatures, including a bill that made it to Louisiana's house floor in 2022. In an interview with Time magazine published last month, former President Trump said hed be open to letting women who have abortions be prosecuted. He said hed leave that question up to the states.

Mary Louise Kelly
That was NPRs Sarah McCammon. And if you want to hear more from our we the voters series, well have a link in our show notes.

This episode was produced by Karen Zamora and Brianna Scott. It was edited by Megan Pratts and Courtney Dornan. Alyssa Nadworny contributed reporting. Our executive producer is Sami Yunigan. And one more thing before we go.

You can now enjoy the consider this newsletter. We still help you break down a major story of the day. And you will also get to know our producers and hosts and some moments of joy from the all things considered team. You can sign up@npr.org. considerthisnewsletter it's consider this from NPR.

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