{"id":32578,"date":"2024-10-28T21:01:09","date_gmt":"2024-10-28T21:01:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cincinnatirighttolife.org\/?p=32578"},"modified":"2024-10-28T21:01:10","modified_gmt":"2024-10-28T21:01:10","slug":"voting-for-trump-could-save-tens-of-thousands-of-babies-per-year","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cincinnatirighttolife.org\/voting-for-trump-could-save-tens-of-thousands-of-babies-per-year\/","title":{"rendered":"Voting For Trump Could Save Tens Of Thousands Of Babies Per Year"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

By: Grayson Quay, originally published October 28, 2024, The Federalist<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The election of Kamala Harris would be far more damaging to the pro-life movement.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Since the Supreme Court\u2019s Dobbs v. Jackson Women\u2019s Health Organization <\/em>decision dropped in June 2022, the Republican Party has been running at full speed away from its pro-life convictions. The party platform no longer<\/a> calls for any federal abortion restrictions, while former President Donald Trump says six-week bans<\/a> are \u201ctoo severe.\u201d In response, some pro-life Republicans have suggested withholding their votes this year. That would be a mistake.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s easy to see why GOP leaders are spooked. In 2022 and 2023, pro-lifers went\u00a00 for 7<\/a>\u00a0on abortion ballot measures, including in red states like Ohio and Kansas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When voters consider the issue in isolation, death wins every time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Those same voters, however, have also shown their willingness to elect pro-life candidates. In the 2022 midterms, Republican Govs. Mike DeWine of Ohio<\/a>, Brian Kemp of Georgia<\/a>, Ron DeSantis of Florida<\/a>, and Greg Abbott of Texas all won landslide reelection victories after signing six-week bans. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This suggests that it\u2019s possible to preserve state abortion bans as long as they\u2019re insulated from direct democracy at the state level and codification of Roe v. Wade <\/em>at the federal level. And that\u2019s reason enough for every pro-lifer to vote Trump. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Three maps reveal the current situation.\u00a0The first<\/a>\u00a0shows state abortion restrictions.\u00a0The second<\/a>\u00a0shows states with abortion on the ballot in 2024 (with some measures initiated by citizens and others by Democrat-controlled state legislatures).\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

All of the 2024 ballot measures legalize abortion through birth. Maryland<\/a>, New York<\/a>, and Colorado<\/a> do so unapologetically, while the rest include a post-viability \u201cmaternal health\u201d exemption that could be stretched to cover something as minor as anxiety. We can assume all of them will receive majority support. The only one that might <\/em>fail is Florida\u2019s, because the state constitution requires a 60 percent<\/a> supermajority for ballot measure amendments, and it\u2019s currently polling<\/a> at exactly 60 percent. For context, Ohio\u2019s abortion amendment passed with 56.8 percent<\/a> of the vote, while Michigan\u2019s got 56.7 percent<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That\u2019s where the third map<\/a> comes in. When you compare it to the first map, you\u2019ll see that there are 11 states that have both a total or six-week abortion ban and no constitutional mechanism for citizen-initiated ballot measures. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This means that even if voters overturn abortion bans in every state where that\u2019s possible, it will still be illegal in Alabama, Georgia, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi (where the amendment referendum process has been ruled inapplicable<\/a> by state courts), South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, and West Virginia. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

North Carolina makes the list as an honorable mention, though its relatively lenient\u00a012-week ban<\/a>\u00a0outlaws only around\u00a010 percent<\/a>\u00a0of abortions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pro-Life States and Playing Defense<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

That leaves more than 75 million Americans living under abortion bans (plus another 10 million if you count North Carolina and another 22 million if the Florida amendment fails). Also, most of those states are large and adjacent to one another, forming a vast \u201cabortion desert.\u201d For many women, traveling to a state where the spirit of Moloch holds sway is prohibitively inconvenient and expensive. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

We know these bans have already saved tens of thousands<\/a> of babies. If we want to preserve them, pro-lifers\u2019 political strategy for the foreseeable future must be a defensive one. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

At the state level, this means making sure the GOP controls courts, legislatures, and executive branches in those 12 states. We can do that by building up state-level political machines and maintaining an iron grip on the process of drawing legislative districts. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It also means brutally punishing any Republican candidate or officeholder who threatens to repeal state abortion bans. We might not be able to field a pro-life majority in a statewide referendum, but we can still pull it off in a GOP primary.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s also worth noting that between 2014 and 2020, voters in Tennessee<\/a>, West Virginia<\/a>, Alabama<\/a>, and Louisiana<\/a> all passed legislatively initiated ballot measures declaring that the state constitution does not protect abortion rights. It\u2019s possible that the Handmaid\u2019s Tale <\/em>hysteria we\u2019ve seen post-Dobbs<\/em> won\u2019t last forever and that solid pro-life majorities will eventually re-coalesce in red states.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Future under Kamala Harris<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

At the federal level, this defensive strategy unfortunately looks like leaving the issue to the states for now. It galls me to hear Trump and running mate J.D. Vance talk about vetoing a federal abortion ban. But when the alternative is losing the election and watching President Kamala Harris nuke the filibuster to legalize abortion through birth nationwide, I\u2019m willing to grit my teeth and bear it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If Trump wins in November, then at the bare minimum those 12 bans stay on the books. That\u2019s not the total pro-life victory we hoped for, but it\u2019s worth fighting to preserve.\u00a0If Harris wins, the fruits of half a century\u2019s struggle are at risk.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Grayson Quay is a Young Voices contributor based in Arlington, VA.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By: Grayson Quay, originally published October 28, 2024, The Federalist The election of Kamala Harris would be far more damaging to the pro-life movement. Since the Supreme Court\u2019s Dobbs v. Jackson Women\u2019s Health Organization decision dropped in June 2022, the Republican Party has been running at full speed away from its pro-life convictions. The party platform no longer calls for…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":32579,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-32578","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"yoast_head":"\nVoting For Trump Could Save Tens Of Thousands Of Babies Per Year - Cincinnati Right to Life<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/cincinnatirighttolife.org\/voting-for-trump-could-save-tens-of-thousands-of-babies-per-year\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Voting For Trump Could Save Tens Of Thousands Of Babies Per Year - Cincinnati Right to Life\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"By: Grayson Quay, originally published October 28, 2024, The Federalist The election of Kamala Harris would be far more damaging to the pro-life movement. Since the Supreme Court\u2019s Dobbs v. Jackson Women\u2019s Health Organization decision dropped in June 2022, the Republican Party has been running at full speed away from its pro-life convictions. The party platform no longer calls for…\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/cincinnatirighttolife.org\/voting-for-trump-could-save-tens-of-thousands-of-babies-per-year\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Cincinnati Right to Life\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2024-10-28T21:01:09+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2024-10-28T21:01:10+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/cincinnatirighttolife.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Voting-Trump-could-save-Babies.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1347\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"670\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Melanie Wade\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Melanie Wade\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/cincinnatirighttolife.org\/voting-for-trump-could-save-tens-of-thousands-of-babies-per-year\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/cincinnatirighttolife.org\/voting-for-trump-could-save-tens-of-thousands-of-babies-per-year\/\",\"name\":\"Voting For Trump Could Save Tens Of Thousands Of Babies Per Year - Cincinnati Right to Life\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/cincinnatirighttolife.org\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/cincinnatirighttolife.org\/voting-for-trump-could-save-tens-of-thousands-of-babies-per-year\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/cincinnatirighttolife.org\/voting-for-trump-could-save-tens-of-thousands-of-babies-per-year\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/cincinnatirighttolife.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Voting-Trump-could-save-Babies.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2024-10-28T21:01:09+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2024-10-28T21:01:10+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/cincinnatirighttolife.org\/#\/schema\/person\/9a5fe1347253fa134f21cdb919caf789\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/cincinnatirighttolife.org\/voting-for-trump-could-save-tens-of-thousands-of-babies-per-year\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/cincinnatirighttolife.org\/voting-for-trump-could-save-tens-of-thousands-of-babies-per-year\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/cincinnatirighttolife.org\/voting-for-trump-could-save-tens-of-thousands-of-babies-per-year\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/cincinnatirighttolife.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Voting-Trump-could-save-Babies.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/cincinnatirighttolife.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Voting-Trump-could-save-Babies.jpg\",\"width\":1347,\"height\":670},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/cincinnatirighttolife.org\/voting-for-trump-could-save-tens-of-thousands-of-babies-per-year\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/cincinnatirighttolife.org\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Voting For Trump Could Save Tens Of Thousands Of Babies Per Year\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/cincinnatirighttolife.org\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/cincinnatirighttolife.org\/\",\"name\":\"Cincinnati Right to Life\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/cincinnatirighttolife.org\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/cincinnatirighttolife.org\/#\/schema\/person\/9a5fe1347253fa134f21cdb919caf789\",\"name\":\"Melanie Wade\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/cincinnatirighttolife.org\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7ec3fd7a1977f4be962597ccc3e12001?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7ec3fd7a1977f4be962597ccc3e12001?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Melanie Wade\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/cincinnatirighttolife.org\/author\/mwade\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Voting For Trump Could Save Tens Of Thousands Of Babies Per Year - Cincinnati Right to Life","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/cincinnatirighttolife.org\/voting-for-trump-could-save-tens-of-thousands-of-babies-per-year\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Voting For Trump Could Save Tens Of Thousands Of Babies Per Year - Cincinnati Right to Life","og_description":"By: Grayson Quay, originally published October 28, 2024, The Federalist The election of Kamala Harris would be far more damaging to the pro-life movement. Since the Supreme Court\u2019s Dobbs v. Jackson Women\u2019s Health Organization decision dropped in June 2022, the Republican Party has been running at full speed away from its pro-life convictions. The party platform no longer calls for…","og_url":"https:\/\/cincinnatirighttolife.org\/voting-for-trump-could-save-tens-of-thousands-of-babies-per-year\/","og_site_name":"Cincinnati Right to Life","article_published_time":"2024-10-28T21:01:09+00:00","article_modified_time":"2024-10-28T21:01:10+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1347,"height":670,"url":"https:\/\/cincinnatirighttolife.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Voting-Trump-could-save-Babies.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Melanie Wade","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Melanie Wade","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/cincinnatirighttolife.org\/voting-for-trump-could-save-tens-of-thousands-of-babies-per-year\/","url":"https:\/\/cincinnatirighttolife.org\/voting-for-trump-could-save-tens-of-thousands-of-babies-per-year\/","name":"Voting For Trump Could Save Tens Of Thousands Of Babies Per Year - Cincinnati Right to Life","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/cincinnatirighttolife.org\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/cincinnatirighttolife.org\/voting-for-trump-could-save-tens-of-thousands-of-babies-per-year\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/cincinnatirighttolife.org\/voting-for-trump-could-save-tens-of-thousands-of-babies-per-year\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/cincinnatirighttolife.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Voting-Trump-could-save-Babies.jpg","datePublished":"2024-10-28T21:01:09+00:00","dateModified":"2024-10-28T21:01:10+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/cincinnatirighttolife.org\/#\/schema\/person\/9a5fe1347253fa134f21cdb919caf789"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/cincinnatirighttolife.org\/voting-for-trump-could-save-tens-of-thousands-of-babies-per-year\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/cincinnatirighttolife.org\/voting-for-trump-could-save-tens-of-thousands-of-babies-per-year\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/cincinnatirighttolife.org\/voting-for-trump-could-save-tens-of-thousands-of-babies-per-year\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/cincinnatirighttolife.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Voting-Trump-could-save-Babies.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/cincinnatirighttolife.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Voting-Trump-could-save-Babies.jpg","width":1347,"height":670},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/cincinnatirighttolife.org\/voting-for-trump-could-save-tens-of-thousands-of-babies-per-year\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/cincinnatirighttolife.org\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Voting For Trump Could Save Tens Of Thousands Of Babies Per Year"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/cincinnatirighttolife.org\/#website","url":"https:\/\/cincinnatirighttolife.org\/","name":"Cincinnati Right to Life","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/cincinnatirighttolife.org\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/cincinnatirighttolife.org\/#\/schema\/person\/9a5fe1347253fa134f21cdb919caf789","name":"Melanie Wade","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/cincinnatirighttolife.org\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7ec3fd7a1977f4be962597ccc3e12001?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7ec3fd7a1977f4be962597ccc3e12001?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Melanie Wade"},"url":"https:\/\/cincinnatirighttolife.org\/author\/mwade\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cincinnatirighttolife.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32578","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cincinnatirighttolife.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cincinnatirighttolife.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cincinnatirighttolife.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cincinnatirighttolife.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=32578"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cincinnatirighttolife.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32578\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":32580,"href":"https:\/\/cincinnatirighttolife.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32578\/revisions\/32580"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cincinnatirighttolife.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/32579"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cincinnatirighttolife.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=32578"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cincinnatirighttolife.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=32578"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cincinnatirighttolife.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=32578"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}