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WASHINGTON Republican presidential contenders are struggling with the abortion issue early in the campaign, as they walk a tightrope between a party base that favors outlawing the procedure and a majority of the U.S. that wants it to remain legal in most cases.

The issue has become more challenging for the GOP to navigate after an intense backlash to the overturning of Roe v. Wade last summer, which has hurt Republicans in numerous elections since, and the more recent lawsuits challenging access to the abortion pill mifepristone. The latest difficulties for Republican 2024 hopefuls reveal a party still trying to figure out how to use its newfound legal power granted by the Supreme Court to restrict abortion nationally.

The newest contender to launch a 2024 exploratory committee, Sen. Tim Scott, R-S.C., toured Iowa and New Hampshire this week and told WMUR he'd "definitely" sign a 20-week abortion ban. But he didn't say if that was his threshold, and when asked separately if hed support a federal prohibition, he sidestepped.

I would simply say that the fact of the matter is, when you look at the issue of abortion, one of the challenges that we have we continue to go to the most restrictive conversations without broadening the scope, Scott said in New Hampshire. Im 100% pro-life, I never walk away from that. But the truth of the matter is when you look at the issues on abortion, I start with a very important conversation.

From there, Scott evoked an exchange he had with Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen about the impact of abortion on labor participation for African American women.

In an interview that aired one day earlier, Scott dodged multiple questions from CBS News about whether he supports federal limits on abortion, instead criticizing proponents of legal abortion.

I do think we spend not enough time understanding how far the far left has gone on the issue of abortion, he said. When asked if being 100% pro-life means he favors federal restrictions, Scott responded: Thats not what I said.

Scott isnt alone. Other Republican contenders have also sought to avoid taking a clear position on abortion and instead attacked liberals as the real extremists for pushing broad protections without restrictions late in pregnancy that surveys say are popular. Democrats say the government should stay out of the issue and leave abortion decisions up to women and their doctors.

Nikki Haley, the former South Carolina governor and United Nations ambassador, would not say after launching her presidential campaign whether shed sign the federal ban on abortion after 15 weeks that has been proposed by her fellow South Carolinian, Sen. Lindsey Graham.

We need consensus on this, Haley told NBCs "TODAY" show in February. If were looking at 15 weeks, what we need to understand is we are not OK with abortion up until the time of birth. And so we should at least decide: When is it OK?

Former Vice President Mike Pence, a devout Christian and conservative who has long been at the forefront of the fight to restrict abortion, came out for abortion restrictions across every U.S. state after the Supreme Court after Roe fell.

But even Pence, who has been visiting early states and taking steps toward a presidential run, is grappling with where to draw the line.

In an interview last month with the New Hampshire-based WMUR, Pence was repeatedly asked whether he supported a state bill in South Carolina that would allow the death penalty for women who have an abortion. He pivoted first to say he supports pro-life measures nationally.

But when the interviewer followed up to ask him if such laws encourage a culture of life, Pence demurred.

I must tell you that Im not familiar with those proposals and I dont have a way of responding to that or confirming it, he said.

His remarks immediately drew a backlash from the local Planned Parenthood, which supports abortion rights and labeled his rhetoric dangerous.

Pences team later issued a clarification to WMUR, saying he reviewed the legislation and doesnt support it.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who has also taken steps to run for president and is seen by many as the main alternative to former President Donald Trump, hasnt made the issue a focal point so far. But that could change. On Thursday, the Florida Legislature passed an abortion ban after six weeks of pregnancy, which DeSantis quietly signed into law that same day.

Meanwhile, Trump, the GOP front-runner, has largely steered clear of the issue since the fall of Roe, despite his role in picking three Supreme Court justices who voted to overturn the landmark ruling.

The caution comes amid a flurry of activity driven by Republicans across the country that continues to keep abortion on the radar.

Last week, Idaho became the first state to restrict out-of-state travel to get an abortion while a GOP-appointed judge invalidated the Food and Drug Administration's approval of mifepristone, sparking a legal fight at the appeals court.

Former Ohio Gov. John Kasich, who ran for the GOP presidential nomination in 2016, said the party should be willing to compromise, perhaps by endorsing legal abortion until the third trimester.

I think that theres a good possibility of trying to reach some kind of a reasonable compromise, Kasich said on MSNBC. Its the way that, frankly, they need to resolve this issue.

The first flash of this was Kansas, he said, citing the vote to protect abortion rights in the deep-red state last year, which presaged the GOPs underperformance in the 2022 elections. The partys got to figure that out. The same way theyve got to figure out guns.

Sahil Kapur is a senior national political reporter for NBC News.

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Republican presidential hopefuls are already struggling with the abortion issue - NBC News

Iowa Republican Gov. Kim Reynolds has backed a plan to allow residents who are 18 and older to receive birth control from a pharmacist without a prescription. The Republican-controlled Senate last month approved legislation to permit it.

But the bill is moving through the statehouse as a rift is growing in the Republican Party over birth control, with some anti-abortion groups opposing access. Similar legislation, to expand or protect birth control access, has passed in both liberal and conservative states in recent years. But with the Supreme Courts June decision ending a federal right to abortion, states have taken on reproductive health care, and some conservatives are increasingly tying abortion and birth control.

Mary Ziegler, an abortion law historian, said Republicans used to be able to take a stance on either abortion policy or contraception policy without the issues intersecting.

My sense in general within the anti-abortion movement and I think to some degree within the GOP, too theres been a shift to the right on all of that, and more open opposition to contraception than weve seen in years past, she said. To me its much more eye-catching to see a Republican governor actually being this supportive of contraception, than it would have been a few years ago, just because I think theres been a general shift toward saying, Contraception is bad, too.

Some Republicans are working to clarify that they are not opposed to contraception. In Oklahoma, a pair of anti-abortion Republican lawmakers introduced a bill earlier this year that clarifies that state laws on abortion shall not prohibit or restrict contraceptive drugs, surgeries or other treatments by authorized health care providers. Lawmakers in the Republican-led state Senate overwhelmingly passed the measure last month.

Being pro-family also means allowing Oklahomans the freedom to plan when to start or grow their family, sponsor Sen. Jessica Garvin said in a statement at the time of the bills passage. When people have access to contraception, they can pursue their goals and build healthy families. Its a right we all deserve.

Ziegler said opposition by anti-abortion groups toward birth control has become more pronounced in recent election cycles, especially after former President Barack Obama included contraception mandates in the Affordable Care Act that spurred legal action. She noted as more Christian right groups and anti-abortion organizers strengthened their financial resources and strategy, there was more invested in claims about religious liberty and its connection to birth control.

That was when you began to see more of a tendency to say, Were OK opposing contraception, because people of faith have these religious objections to it, because they believe its an abortifacient, she said.

A spokesperson for Students for Life of America told The 19th that the organization does not take a position against or for birth control, but it opposes federal funding to abortion providers who use birth control programs to market life-ending drugs, devices, and procedures.

Title X funds should be invested in family care, not family-ending vendors who misuse federal funds to support their abortion businesses, Kristi Hamrick, vice president of media and policy, said in an email.

Ziegler said it all indicates a divide among some GOP lawmakers and some anti-abortion groups on contraception, and its still unclear where its heading.

This is kind of a fork in the road for the movement, and I think, for the GOP, she said.

At least 17 states and the District of Columbia allow pharmacists to provide contraceptive care, according to the Guttmacher Institute, a nonpartisan research and policy organization focused on reproductive and sexual health. Many of these laws have been passed since 2016, according to Elizabeth Nash, who recently tracked state policy for Guttmacher and now works for the federal government on contraceptive access. The details vary, though, and there are practical questions now about access and education to the public.

Its one thing to pass the policy and say youve passed the policy, she said. The other piece is the implementation part.

The Iowa bill to expand birth control has been years in the making. Reynolds first introduced the measure in 2019, but it did not have enough support amid opposition from local anti-abortion groups.

The proposal this year was added at the last minute to an unrelated bill about EpiPens. The provision noted that self-administered hormonal contraceptives include an oral hormonal contraceptive, a hormonal vaginal ring and a hormonal contraceptive patch. It specifies that it does not include any drug intended to induce an abortion.

Before a 45-3 vote, there was no debate on the bill. Iowa Sen. Jeff Edler, the Republican managing the bills passage, briefly said on the chamber floor that it was another bill that continues to expand the access of health care to Iowans.

But once again, its unclear if the bill will pass. Since advancing out of the state Senate, Republicans in the House have proposed amendments to the legislation that might complicate its chances of getting signed into law, including one that requires pharmacists who dispense birth control to share misinformation about abortion.

And once again, local anti-abortion groups have registered opposition to the bill, including the Family Leader, a politically powerful conservative group, and Pulse Life Advocates, previously known as the anti-abortion group Iowans for Life.

A spokesperson for Reynolds did not respond to a request for an interview about the bill.

The bills progression since leaving the Senate last month has been discouraging to Sen. Sarah Trone Garriott, a Democrat.

It really seemed like, Hey, were maybe going to do something that the people have been asking for and isnt that great? A nice change of pace, she said. And its really disappointing to hear about all these things the House is attaching to this legislation.

Iowa has also shifted more conservative in recent election cycles, including under the leadership of Reynolds. She has asked a more conservative state Supreme Court to reconsider a six-week abortion ban that she first signed in 2018 but has been on hold.

Separately, newly elected Republican Attorney General Brenna Bird confirmed to The Des Moines Register that her office recently put on hold a long-standing practice under the previous Democratic AG to pay for emergency contraception for victims of sexual assault. In rare cases, that also included abortions.

Trone Garriott said if Republicans reduce reproductive health through other forms of policy, its hard to balance that out with their efforts on birth control.

Overall, the landscape in Iowa is pretty bleak right now when it comes to reproductive care, and theres all kinds of things that are being passed that are discouraging people from moving to our state, discouraging young people from building their lives here and discouraging health care practitioners from coming here, she said. So its a small thing thats helpful, but overall, were just seeing a lot of bad policy thats having a negative impact.

This story was originally published April 12, 2023, by The 19th.

Link:
A rift is growing in the Republican Party over birth control - The Connecticut Mirror

Jonathan Capehart:

Absolutely.

And I'm going to take issue. I'm going to answer your question and take issue with what David said. I disagree that abortion is an issue that isn't top of mind.

Maybe, if you ask specifically about abortion, but when you wrap it into the overall threats to liberty, attack on liberty, voting rights, abortion rights, and other things that are happening in school libraries, that people look at that, look at what's happening in Florida, looking at what happened with the Texas decision, and see, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, this is not what we want.

And so, yes, this is a great issue for Democrats. But what we saw in Kansas over the summer, what we saw in Wisconsin just a couple of weeks ago, is that this is quickly not becoming a nonpartisan issue. This is becoming an issue where women who are Democrats, independents and Republicans, and particularly the Republicans might not say a whole lot, but they make their voices heard at the ballot box.

And we have seen it in two places, and I think we will continue to see that, which is why Governor DeSantis, hiding under the cover of darkness, signing in a six-week abortion ban, might play well in the only place where the red wave hit last November, but it's not going to play well if he is the candidate if he is a candidate for president or any Republican running for president in 2024.

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Brooks and Capehart on the 2024 Republican campaign - PBS NewsHour

RALEIGH, N.C. North Carolina on Monday became the 40th state to expand Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act, the latest sign of how Republican opposition to the health measure has weakened more than a decade after President Barack Obama signed it into law.

Gov. Roy Cooper, a Democrat, signed legislation expanding the states Medicaid program during a sunny afternoon ceremony on the lawn of the Executive Mansion, days after the Republican-controlled legislature gave final approval to the measure. He was surrounded by patients, advocates and some of the same Republican leaders who had previously blocked expansion in the state.

The bill will expand Medicaid to adults who make up to 138 percent of the federal poverty level, or about $41,000for a family of four. State officials say the expansion will cover an estimated 600,000 people. It will take effect when the state adopts a budget, likely by June, Mr. Cooper said in an interview before the signing ceremony.

Today is a historic step toward a healthier North Carolina, the governor declared before signing the measure. When areporterpressed him on when the expansion would take effect, he said, Its only a question of when, not if.

It has been nearly 11 years since the Supreme Court ruled that states did not have to expand Medicaid the government health insurance program for low-income people under the Affordable Care Act. Nearly half the states opted out. More recently, progressives have helped to expand Medicaid in seven states all of them with either Republican-controlled or divided governments by putting the question directly to voters; in November, South Dakota adopted Medicaid expansion via the ballot box.

But getting Republican elected officials to abandon their opposition to expanding the program has not been easy. The last state where a Republican-controlled legislature voted to expand Medicaid was Virginia, in 2018. The governor at the time was a Democrat, Ralph Northam.

The battle over Medicaid has been particularly intense in North Carolina. Supporters of expansionconducted hundreds of Moral Mondays protests at the State Capitol. In 2014, the Republican mayor of a town that lost its hospital walked all the way to Washington to build support for expansion.

Mondays bill signing leaves just 10 states all with divided or Republican leadership, and most of them in the South that have yet to expand Medicaid. Advocatessay they now have their sights set on Alabama, where Gov. Kay Ivey, a Republican, can expand her states program with her own authority.

In North Carolina, there are various reasons for Republicans recent change of heart. Much of the opposition in the state and elsewhere has beenbothideological and partisan a reflection of Republicans deep distaste for Mr. Obama. Butit is now clear that the Affordable Care Act, known as Obamacare, is here to stay. Republicans in Washington have been unable to repeal the law and appear to have largely given up fighting it, helping to pave the way for expansion in North Carolina.

The argument that this is somehow an endorsement of Obamacare is losing a lot of political currency, even among conservatives, said Frederick Isasi, the executive director of Families USA, a health care advocacy group based in Washington.

Hospitals, especially struggling rural ones, are eager for the extra revenue that Medicaid reimbursement will bring. The federal government picks up 90 percent of thecosts of reimbursement under the expansion, and in North Carolina, hospitals will pay the other 10 percent. The state has revamped its Medicaid program, moving it from a fee-for-service program to one that relies on managed care a long-sought goal of Republicans.

This has been a long day coming, but its been as a result of a lot of reforms, Tim Moore, the speaker of the states House of Representatives and a Republican, said during the signing ceremony. The changes, he said, allowed us to be in the position that were in today to be able to expand this coverage.

For Mr. Cooper, who is in his second term and has been mentioned as a possible future Democratic candidate for Senate or even president, the bill signing was a significant victory. He sought to expand Medicaid when he first took office in 2017, and Republicans sued in federal court to stop him from doing it.

The push for expansion picked up steam last year, when the states House and Senate approved separate measures. But the two chambers were unable to reconcile differences.

The signing ceremony on Monday was at turns poignant and celebratory. Cassandra Brooks, who operates Little Believers Academy, a day care center in the Raleigh area, choked back tears as she recalled two of her teachers who had died, she said, because theycould not afford health care.

They were excellent early childhood teachers who didnt have health insurance and passed away due to preventable health conditions, she said. She cast the expansion measure as a boon to small businesses that operate on thin margins and cannot afford to offer their employees coverage.

Heres toMedicaid expansion in North Carolina, she said. Heres to supporting small business in North Carolina. Heres to continued growth in North Carolina. I believe in North Carolina.

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North Carolina Expands Medicaid After Republicans Abandon Their ... - The New York Times

For proponents of capital punishment, the scarcity of execution drugs has become a problem. Pharmaceutical companies generally want their medications to be used to save lives, not deliberately kill people, so theyve taken steps to prevent state officials from using their products in state-sanctioned lethal injections.

This has led some states where officials are especially eager to put people to death to give fresh looks to deadly methods that the United States had previously left behind. As the Associated Press reported, one of the nations reddest states has now done exactly that.

Republican Gov. Brad Little signed a bill allowing execution by firing squad, making Idaho the latest state to turn to older methods of capital punishment amid a nationwide shortage of lethal-injection drugs. The Legislature passed the measure March 20 with a veto-proof majority. Under it, firing squads will be used only if the state cannot obtain the drugs needed for lethal injections.

The AP, citing information from the Death Penalty Information Center, added that four other red states Mississippi, Utah, Oklahoma, and South Carolina also have laws allowing firing squads if other execution methods are unavailable, though South Carolinas law is currently on hold until ongoing litigation is resolved.

The shortage has prompted other states in recent years to revive older methods of execution. Only Mississippi, Utah, Oklahoma, and South Carolina have laws allowing firing squads if other execution methods are unavailable, according to the Death Penalty Information Center. Idaho, in other words, is joining a small club.

The APs report added:

Idaho Sen. Doug Ricks, a Republican who co-sponsored that states firing squad bill, told his fellow senators Monday (3/20) that the states difficulty in finding lethal injection drugs could continue indefinitely, that he believes death by firing squad is humane, and that the bill would help ensure the rule of law is carried out. But Sen. Dan Foreman, also a Republican, called firing-squad executions beneath the dignity of the state of Idaho. They would traumatize the executioners, the witnesses and the people who clean up afterward, he said.

Theres a broader significance to this debate that extends well beyond the Gem State.

Over the course of generations, theres been a slow effort to make state-sanctioned executions more civilized. Theres been an evolution of sorts, from axes to guillotines. Then there were nooses, followed by firing squads. This gave way to electric chairs, and finally, lethal injections.

The underlying idea was to make the killing of human beings less gruesome and more sterile, less violent and more peaceful. Proponents of the executions could take some solace in this evolution, as if the process of making the killings less ghastly somehow added a degree of legitimacy to the larger endeavor.

The new state measure in Idaho serves as a reminder: The arrow does not always move in a straight line. Sometimes, officials take steps backwards, indifferent to the goals of sterility.

To be sure, there are often incidents in which police officers shoot civilians, but capital punishment offers a qualitatively different dynamic. Officials in Idaho envision a system going forward in which the state will put an unarmed civilian who is no longer a threat in front of guns, at which point officials will open fire until the unarmed civilian is dead.

This wont be the result of an unpredictable confrontation; it will be a vaguely sanitized shooting.

I appreciate the fact that a GOP state senator said firing-squad executions are beneath the dignity of the state of Idaho, but the complaint was incomplete: This is beneath the dignity of anyone, anywhere.

Steve Benen is a producer for "The Rachel Maddow Show," the editor of MaddowBlog and an MSNBC political contributor. He's also the bestselling author of "The Impostors: How Republicans Quit Governing and Seized American Politics."

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Republican governor signs firing squad execution bill into law - MSNBC