Leading pro-life organization Susan B. Anthony (SBA) Pro-Life America called on Republican presidential candidates to support a federal abortion restriction as a condition of receiving its influential endorsement.
“It’s possible that we would endorse a candidate, but it’s also possible that we won’t, and we have a very bright line that hasn’t changed, and you must communicate your federal minimum standards,” SBA President Marjorie Dannenfelser said on a Tuesday press call, adding that candidates must disclose how they would “reign in the extremes of California and Illinois and New York — abortion up to the end.”
Dannenfelser noted that there is “a lot of fear on the part of candidates” because “now their actions are not theoretical statements” following the overturn of Roe v. Wade.
“It does make sense that after 50 years of a status quo that disallowed the democratic process to determine what our law on abortion ought to be, that there be fits and starts, and it takes a little bit of time for consensus to become obvious,” she said. “And it makes sense, even though we don’t like it, that there’s a lot of fear on the part of candidates… now their actions are not theoretical in statement. They have practical and immediate application.”
Despite the fear, Dannenfelser said Republican candidates must push forward by going on offense when it comes to abortion, expose the “extreme up until the moment of birth” position of Democrats, and show that unborn babies are people, “not an appendix to be taken out and discarded.”
“Politics is about two things, that is: Contrast and intensity of that contrast, where that contrast is clear,” she said. “When those two things are engaged or real, the pro-life position is going to win.”
When asked about some Republicans’ use of the “slippery slope” argument concerning passing federal abortion restrictions, Dannenfelser noted that Democrats are already working in the opposite direction to pass the radical Women’s Health Protection Act.
“We dare not unilaterally disarm and leave the field,” Dannenfelser said. “That leaves the field to them to enact a law that will obliterate every single pro-life protection in the country.”
Katherine Hamilton is a political reporter for Breitbart News. You can follow her on Twitter @thekat_hamilton.
