The GOP’s new strategy to win on abortion

The Conversation with Dasha Burns

POLITICO

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4.4 • 1.5K Ratings

🗓️ 27 October 2023

⏱️ 52 minutes

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Summary

Since the Supreme Court’s Dobbs decision in June 2022, the GOP has repeatedly paid a price electorally for its stance on abortion. The chaos has been dispiriting to the anti-abortion activists who helped engineer the Dobbs decision in the first place. And now they think they have a new political strategy to get Republicans out of their defensive crouch and to start winning again on this issue. The woman leading this effort is Marjorie Dannenfelser, the head of Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America, one of the most important institutions in the GOP firmament. She’s known as the woman who killed Roe. Dannenfelser and her colleagues are plotting, financing, and staffing the Republican Party’s counter attack on abortion. Playbook co-author and Deep Dive host Ryan Lizza sat down with her at SBA’s Virginia headquarters this week, partly because she had some news she wanted to share about how and where anti-abortion activists are making their first big move.

Transcript

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0:00.0	For Republicans, the end of Roe v Wade has gone from a cause for celebration to something they'd
0:06.4	rather not talk about. Since the Supreme Court's Dom's decision in June 2022, the GOP has repeatedly
0:13.0	paid a price electorally. Boater shot down anti-abortion measures in red states like Kansas, Kentucky,
0:19.4	Ohio, and Montana. And in the 2022 midterms, the Dom's decision clearly contributed to the party's
0:26.0	lackluster results. Now on the presidential primary campaign trail, Republicans have been in disarray.
0:33.4	Early in his campaign, Senator Tim Scott couldn't figure out what he believed on the issue.
0:38.1	Donald Trump has belittled Ron DeSantis' six-week ban in Florida. And then there's the general
0:43.6	dodging-ness of Nikki Haley, who claims to be, quote, unapologetically pro-life. But also thinks
0:49.3	the right abortion policy is to, quote, find consensus. The chaos has been
0:55.8	dispiriting to the anti-abortion activists who helped engineer the doubt's decision in the first
1:00.5	place. And now they think they have a new political strategy to get Republicans out of their
1:06.3	defensive crouch and to start winning again on this issue. So it is political male practice to
1:13.0	fail to defend and fail to go on offense in a situation like that. The woman leading this effort
1:19.1	is Marjorie Danenfelser, the head of Susan B. Anthony pro-life America, one of the most important
1:25.7	institutions in the GOP firmament. She's known as the woman who killed Roe. One thing I'm
1:33.1	100% sure of is that no organization in the country comes even close to field operations in
1:39.2	winning presidential battlegrounds and Senate battlegrounds and House battlegrounds to what we do.
1:44.4	Danenfelser and her colleagues are plotting, financing, and staffing the Republican Party's
1:49.8	counterattack on abortion. We sat down with her at SBA's Virginia headquarters this week,
1:55.3	partly because she had some news she wanted to share about how and where anti-abortion activists
2:00.9	are making their first big move. I'm Ryan Liza and this is Playbook Deep Dive.
2:07.7	There's an argument now that this movement is the dog that caught the car. I don't
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