WSJ Admonishes The GOP For Lack of Messaging on Abortion, Warns Conservative States Voting For ‘Looser’ Restrictions Than Roe v. Wade
AP Photo/Jay LaPrete
The Wall Street Journal’s editorial board offered a stern warning to the Republican Party in the wake of a GOP-backed Ohio referendum defeat linked to the anti-abortion movement.
The GOP-backed “Issue 1” referendum would have increased the threshold to amend the state’s constitution from a simple majority to a 60% supermajority of state voters. While abortion itself was not directly on the ballot, the Journal called the measure a “proxy battle” as a constitutional amendment to enshrine abortion rights in the state’s constitution will be on the ballot in November.
The Journal argues that the Ohio law to keep abortion legal in the state goes beyond Roe v. Wade:
“Every individual has a right to make and carry out one’s own reproductive decisions,” the amendment says. If approved, the state couldn’t unduly “burden” this right. “Abortion may be prohibited after fetal viability,” except if a physician believes it’s necessary “to protect the pregnant patient’s life or health.”
That would be an abortion right more extreme than what prevailed under Roe v. Wade. Ohio has a law generally requiring parental consent for a minor seeking an abortion. Does this “burden” the reproductive rights of an “individual”? Would the “health” exception for late-term abortions be elastic enough to include an assessment of the mother’s mental, financial or familial health? Such complications are an example of why the people delegate lawmaking to elected representatives.
The editorial board then goes on to admonish Republicans for not coming up with both better messaging on abortion and a legislative plan in case Roe v. Wade were to one day be overturned – as it was last June.
“Republicans spent half a century working to overturn Roe, yet they weren’t prepared for the democratic policy debate when that finally happened in Dobbs last year,” the board concluded after citing GOP losses in Michigan, Kansas, and Wisconsin in regard to abortion policy and judges.
“Now they’re seeing abortion regimes as loose as Roe, or potentially looser, imposed by voters even in conservative states. This political liability will persist until the GOP finds an abortion message that most voters can accept,” the editorial board declares.
The editorial concludes by arguing that Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH), facing a tough reelection bid in red Ohio in 2024, should offer thanks to Justice Samuel Alito — who wrote the opinion overturning Roe v. Wade. “Mr. Brown won’t admit it, but Justice Alito’s constitutional honesty could help save his Senate seat,” wrote the board, referring to Alito’s insistence that voters should set policy, not judges.
Read the full editorial here.
