The simple reason Republicans won’t rest until abortion is banned in all 50 states?
Primaries.
You’ve probably heard by now that the repeal of Arizona’s 1864 abortion ban has been signed into law by Governor Katie Hobbs.
Given how offensive, unpopular and barbaric the law reinstated by the GOP-packed Supreme Court is, this news probably doesn’t surprise you all that much. But there are some people extremely surprised by this development – Republican members of Arizona’s state legislature.
That’s what State Senator Eva Burch told us on this week’s “How are you feeling about democracy?” (which you can listen to above):
What I will say is that when we see this flip flopping, it is purely about what is politically expedient in the moment.
Because for the members of the Republican caucus who really don't have anything to lose, they'll just say the quiet parts out loud. We saw Rep. Parker when they were voting through the repeal of the ban last Wednesday, stood up and said, "When we put in the 15 week abortion ban, we all agreed, we all discussed it. All the Republicans were on the same exact page that what we wanted was the 1864 ban. And that this 15 week ban was just what we could do in the meantime, but that was always the end goal. I don't understand why anybody's turning around and saying anything different right now. We know what the eventual end game is."
We know that they really do support the ban. Those of them who do not have much to lose will just tell you. They're not hiding it. That's what they want. So we have to keep that in mind.
She told us that the two Republicans who were supporting the repeal seemed to be under “considerable distress.” And there’s a simple explanation why any Republican who opposes any abortion ban should be nervous in Arizona: primaries.
Senator Burch told us:
But because we have a primary process in Arizona that favors extremism. They continuously, on the Republican side of the aisle, are ousting anyone who is not leaning Heavy into far right extremist politics anybody who will not toe the line is primaried and ousted so they continue to do that really to their own peril because the Democrats are putting forward far more pragmatic and representative candidates for the state of Arizona.
There are several reasons Donald Trump keeps saying people are “absolutely thrilled” that Roe v. Wade was overturned.
The first is that he only considers Republicans “people.” For Trump, life begins at the moment you decide to put an R by your name.
A new CNN poll shows that Republicans/Conservatives are the only group that approves of how Dobbs ended Roe v. Wade, with 65% in general disapproving of it, including 73% of Democrats and 50% of Independents strongly disapproving of it.
How do you feel about the Court overturning Roe vs. Wade?
And the other big reason Trump says that is because it’s code to his supporters who most fervently oppose abortion rights that he’s going to let them carry out their plan to ban abortion nationally without ever passing an abortion ban. This is the Project 2025 plan. This what anti-choice activists have always been after, as Jessica Valenti told us last week.
And in his Time Magazine interview this week, Trump gave another big nod to those plans:
As Popular Information explained:
During an April 12 interview, Trump was asked if he was "comfortable if states decide to punish women who access abortions after the procedure is banned." Trump responded that, if he were to win the presidential election, "states are going to make that decision" and "states are going to have to be comfortable or uncomfortable, not me."
…
In the Time interview, Trump was also asked if "states should monitor women's pregnancies so they can know if they've gotten an abortion after the ban." Trump said he believed some states "might do that" and, if he were president, the decision on whether to institute surveillance of pregnant women would be up to "the individual states."
Of course, this misses the point about what Trump’s CDC and Department of Justice would do, along with how a Trump administration might use the ancient Comstock Act to crack down both on abortion access and many forms of birth control. But that’s the sleight of hand that’s going on right here. Everyone knows this.
The architect of the plan straight out said so in The New York Times:
“We don’t need a federal ban when we have Comstock on the books,” said Jonathan F. Mitchell, the legal force behind a 2021 Texas law that found a way to effectively ban abortion in the state before Roe v. Wade was overturned. “There’s a smorgasbord of options.”
Mr. Mitchell, who represented Mr. Trump in arguments before the Supreme Court over whether the former president could appear on the ballot in Colorado, indicated that anti-abortion strategists had purposefully been quiet about their more advanced plans, given the political liability the issue has become for Republicans.
“I hope he doesn’t know about the existence of Comstock, because I just don’t want him to shoot off his mouth,” Mr. Mitchell said of Mr. Trump. “I think the pro-life groups should keep their mouths shut as much as possible until the election.”
That’s what is going on. No one should be confused.
- They’re hiding the real plan until the election.
- They’re going to do everything they can to ban or burden every abortion in America relentlessly until they succeed because Republican primary voters will accept nothing less. And those are the only people Republicans have to think about.
