Just two years ago, leading anti-abortion activists were euphoric as the U.S. Supreme Court overturned the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision, thus ending the nationwide right to abortion.
Now, with a presidential election fast approaching, their movement is disunited and worried. Within their own ranks, there is second-guessing and finger-pointing, plus trepidation that Election Day might provide new proof that their cause is broadly unpopular.
Michael New, an abortion opponent who teaches social research at The Catholic University of America, offered an overview of how the movement had fared since the Roe ruling in June 2022.
“Things have not necessarily unfolded as we would hope,” he wrote in an email to The Associated Press. “There is certainly a sense among pro-life leaders that we should have had a stronger post-Roe game plan in place.
“I always remind fellow pro-lifers that we were never promised a smooth glide path to victory,” he added. “There will certainly be setbacks and disappointments along the way.”
A key reason for the wariness is the anti-abortion movement’s recent losing streak on ballot measures in seven states, including conservative Kansas and Kentucky. Nine more states will consider constitutional amendments enshrining abortion rights in the Nov. 5 election — Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Maryland, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada and South Dakota. In several of them, abortion opponents tried various unsuccessful strategies for blocking the measures.
“Pro-life people don’t wear rose-colored glasses; we know we have a huge task ahead of us,” Carol Tobias, president of National Right to Life, told the AP. “Because of the massive amounts of money being dumped into the ballot measures from those allied with the abortion industry and the Democratic Party, it’s an uphill battle.”
Texas is among the Republican-governed states that have enacted near-total abortion bans. Yet nationally, Texas Right to Life president John Seago said, the anti-abortion movement “is in a critical chapter right now.”
“Following a historic legal victory, we have realized that while we had enjoyed massive legislative and legal victories in the last decade, public opinion had not followed the same trajectory,” he said.
Troy Newman, who heads the anti-abortion group Operation Rescue, recently published an online opinion piece assailing the movement he’s been a part of for 25 years.
“The tide has turned, and the pro-life message is now considered a political liability that could prevent President Trump’s victorious return to the White House,” Newman wrote.
