NBC News Says GOP Looking To Ditch ‘Pro-Life’ In Favor Of New Term — Like ‘Pro-Baby’
AP Photo/Mariam Zuhaib
NBC News reported that Republicans are looking to ditch the phrase “pro-life” in an effort to re-brand their opposition to abortion rights — perhaps as “Pro-Baby?”
The abortion issue has almost universally been blamed for the 2022 midterm rout that saw an expected red wave dry up into a narrow House majority and a slim Democratic majority in the Senate in the wake of the Supreme Court’s 5-4 decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization — which effectively overturned Roe v. Wade.
According to exclusive new reporting from the NBC News’s team of Julie Tsirkin, Kate Santaliz, Brennan Leach, and Liz Brown-Kaiser, Senate Republicans are workshopping a new way to describe their stance as “pro-life” has failed to resonate — with one suggesting “pro-baby” as a gisty jumping-off point:
At a closed-door meeting of Senate Republicans this week, the head of a super PAC closely aligned with Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., presented poll results that suggested voters are reacting differently to commonly used terms like “pro-life” and “pro-choice” in the wake of last year’s Supreme Court decision that overturned Roe v. Wade, said several senators who were in the room.
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Sen. Todd Young, R-Ind., summarized Wednesday’s meeting as being focused on “pro-baby policies.”
Asked whether senators were encouraged to use a term other than “pro-life,” Young said his “pro-baby” descriptor “was just a term of my creation to demonstrate my concern for babies.”
Senators who attended Law’s presentation said he encouraged Republicans to be as specific as possible when they describe their positions on abortion, highlighting findings that he said could have a negative impact on elections. Many senators in attendance represent states where Republican-led legislatures are pursuing abortion restrictions.
This week saw blanket coverage of a new CNN poll that had very little in the way of good news for President Joe Biden, which perhaps underscores the need for Republicans to find a solution for what is widely seen as a political liability for them.
