The GOP thinks it's "cracked the abortion code,"
according to Politico. (Spoiler alert: this isn't new, it's just the most recent effort by the GOP to push anti-abortion measures that fail when put to the test at the ballot box.)
Republicans are more united than they have been in years on a national strategy to roll back abortion rights, using state legislatures and the new GOP Congress to push for banning the procedure after 20 weeks of pregnancy — a platform that also has the backing of the party’s presidential candidates...
Now, with Congress and two-thirds of state legislatures under GOP control, the party hopes the 20-week agenda offers a moment of unity while aligning Republicans with polls that show most Americans support such a ban.
Sen. Rand Paul and former Gov. Jeb Bush support the legislation, a bill was introduced in the U.S. House last week and another is expected in the Senate soon, plus whatever action is taken in the states.
Republicans are jazzed because they think the effort to target women's rights and undermine their health care options can stoke the GOP base while also being politically palatable more broadly.
Here's the problem:
First, they're lying about the fetal pain part. The American Medical Association has concluded that fetuses do not feel pain until about 29 to 30 weeks.
Second, serious health conditions are often discovered at 20 weeks of pregnancy. The Chief Of Pediatric Cardiology at University Of Massachusetts Medical School, Dr. Darshak Sanghavi, has said that ultrasounds just before 20 weeks gestation are "critical for uncovering major birth defects."
Third, when voters understand the health risks imposed by 20-week abortion bans, the vast majority oppose the legislation.
Planned Parenthood polling from 2013:
• Sixty-six percent (66%) of all voters say abortions should be legal after 20 weeks if a woman’s doctor determines that the woman would suffer serious, long-lasting health problems if she carried the pregnancy to term;
• Sixty-one percent (61%) of all voters say abortions should be legal after 20 weeks if a woman's doctor determines that the fetus is not yet viable and the woman and her family determine that her health and personal circumstances are such that she should not continue her pregnancy; and
• Sixty-one percent (61%) of all voters say abortions should be legal after 20 weeks if a pregnancy resulted from rape or incest.
That's why the first-ever test of such a municipal ban in Albuquerque, NM, failed at the ballot box in 2013.
But like so many ballot measures that aim to stop abortion, this one failed by a wide margin — 55 to 45 percent — despite polling that at one point showed the referendum might succeed. It’s just the latest evidence that the anti-abortion movement is struggling to score victories at the ballot box, even as conservative state legislatures across the country have passed dozens of laws aimed at making it harder for a woman to get an abortion.