The pro-life movement has focused on the fight in the Supreme Court for so long that when the Dobbs v. Jackson decision finally came—overturning Roe v. Wade and ruling that abortion can be regulated—it wasn’t clear what the plan was after that. The hoped-for, prayed-for, and worked-for victory didn’t end abortion, after all. Ending Roe was just one political battle in the process, even if took 50 years.
“When the decision first came out and shortly after that, there was a lot of jubilation in the pro-life community,” Timothy Head, executive director of the Faith and Freedom Coalition, told CT. “But there wasn’t a second clause to that sentence, ‘Roe has been overturned, ______.’”
After a bit of a scramble over the summer, the largest pro-life groups have emerged to embrace a national plan, calling for a federal ban on abortion. They don’t see it as state’s rights issue. They want to deal with abortion at the level of national politics.
They were ready to support Republican Senator Lindsey Graham when he came out on September 13 with a proposal for a ban on abortions after the 15th week of pregnancy, a few weeks after the first trimester. While top pro-life leaders may disagree with some details of the draft legislation, they focused on using it to frame the choice voters will face in the upcoming midterm elections.
“The Protecting Pain-Capable Unborn Children from Late-Term Abortions Act would prevent cruel and painful abortions from being performed on innocent children,” Carol Tobias, president of the National Right to Life Committee, said in a statement. “The only thing the Democrats are offering the American people in this campaign is an opportunity to kill more and more children by abortion.”
Tobias joined Graham at his press conference, along with Americans United for Life president Catherine Glenn Foster, Concerned Women for America president Penny Young Nance, and March for Life Education and Defense Fund president Jeanne Mancini.
Marjorie Dannenfelser, president of Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America, stood at Graham’s right. She has pushed Republican candidates to see a national abortion ban as a winning issue. They should make it a top priority to motivate conservative Christians to vote on on election day.
According to a Morning Consult poll done in July, 41 percent of evangelicals support an abortion ban with no exceptions, though for most, it is not a top priority.
“If Republicans want to win elections and save lives, it is imperative they learn from past mistakes,” Tobias wrote in an op-ed in TheWashington Post. “With just two months left in this pivotal election cycle, they must learn very quickly, lest the only ‘red wave’ come from the bloodshed of countless innocents.”
But not everyone in the pro-life movement agrees with this strategy. The Faith and Freedom Coalition, which was founded by Ralph Reed as the Christian Coalition for the 21st century, is pushing for a state-by-state approach.
There are no big theological differences between the two sides. Both agree on the moral question of abortion. But they disagree about what to do now, after Dobbs.
There are philosophical reasons for the difference. While some on the Religious Right, such as those who call themselves “national conservatives,” have been arguing state power should be used to defend traditional ways of life and American values, many still identify with the small government politics of 20th century Republicans. They believe most issues impacting the general welfare should be dealt with at the state and local level—including moral issues, such as prayer in schools and bans on abortion.
There are also strategic reasons. Speaking to CT before Graham proposed his national ban, Head said he thought that kind of approach would be “playing into liberals’ hands.” Pro-life activists, he said, are more likely to win state by state than they are in a big, national confrontation.
“Most groups on the Left don’t have chapters in places like Topeka, Kansas. We’re better organized across the country and have 50 times more staff in the states than we have in Washington, DC,” he said. “Conservatives are more engaged in local politics. … Conservatives are better equipped to fight a multifront battle than liberals are.”
The state-by-state approach also allows the pro-life groups to advocate for different policies in different places, pushing for the legislation most likely to be successful in a specific context. A novel civil enforcement mechanism might be politically feasible in Texas but stand no chance in Illinois. Missouri voters might support a parental consent law, while in North Carolina, parental notification might be more palatable.
In states like Colorado and New Jersey, where there are currently no limits on abortion, pro-life legislators could find common cause with progressive colleagues on policies that have the practical effect of reducing the number of abortions. The Faith and Freedom Coalition is talking to conservatives at the state level, for example, about legislation that rewards corporations that offer more parental leave. They also have draft legislation for programs that help mothers afford diapers, car seats, formula, and other basic necessities for caring for a newborn.
“I think that’s correct, constitutionally, but also the states are the best laboratory for figuring out the right approach,” Head said. “As the states start tackling these issues, you start to see the proliferation of ideas.”
A number of pro-life groups have prepared a menu of options for state legislatures. Americans United for Life, for example, has a proposed draft of legislation to completely ban abortion.
“The [Legislature] of the State of [Insert name of State],” it says, “finds that (a) The life of each human being begins at conception; (b) Unborn children have protectable interests in life, health, and well-being; and (c) The natural parents of unborn children have protectable interests in the life, health, and well-being of their unborn children.”
But the group also offers model legislation with more limited aims, proposing laws that would require pregnant women be informed of all their options or banning abortions done on the basis of the unborn child’s sex. Americans United for Life only had one similarly creative policy proposal aimed specifically at the national level: a draft of an executive order that a president could sign that would recognize fetuses as legal persons, entitled to due process and equal protection under the Constitution.
The strategic disagreements may resolve themselves quickly, as activists and operatives respond to the political situation on the ground. And pro-life voters may well choose an all-of-the-above approach and not worry about national versus federalist political philosophy questions.
Graham’s bill, however, may force candidates in the midterm election to take a stance on a national abortion ban. And it’s possible the different approaches, after Dobbs, will be an issue in 2023, as the contenders for the Republican presidential primary start to jostle for position.
A similar strategic question divided pro-life activists in the days after Roe was handed down by the Supreme Court in 1973. Some urged support for targeted programs helping mothers and reducing the number of abortions, historian Daniel K. Williams writes in his book Defenders of the Unborn. But most embraced a bolder plan that was simpler to explain and backed a constitutional amendment saying life begins at conception. That decision connected the pro-life movement to the Republican Party, shaping evangelical engagement with politics and the broader political landscape for the next 50 years.
There are also a few pro-life political operatives who are holding out hope for an alternative. Rather than fighting state by state or backing some kind of national ban that will become a contentious election issue for the foreseeable future, they’d like to see a creative compromise that effectively depoliticizes the issue.
Perhaps Democrats could agree to ban late-term abortions if Republicans would allow a range of exceptions; maybe Republicans could accept abortion in the first trimester if Democrats would agree that no federal funding could be used. It wouldn’t be perfect and no one would be really happy, but there could be a way of reaching a national settlement that would be broadly popular with voters and lower the temperature on debates about the issue, said Democratic political strategist Michael Wear.
He believes a deal—whatever the details looked like—might open up new possibilities for ways to reduce abortion and help women and children.
“Now is when a cultural of life is more imaginable,” Wear told CT. “One of the things Dobbs did was it actually widened the range of options the country could go in.”
Still, he’s not especially optimistic about a compromise. Connecticut congressman Jim Himes, a Democrat, proposed something similar to what Wear has suggested in a closed-door caucus meeting in July. None of his colleagues seemed to think it was a good idea. No one on the Republican side has floated anything similar.
“Congress can step in and let some of that steam out, or abortion politics could be worse in the next 50 years in terms of the effects it has on voters, on our politics, and on the legal regime for abortions,” Wear said. “There is a side of me that thinks, maybe this is the best it ever gets.”
HALIFAX – Nova Scotia Premier Tim Houston says it’s “disgraceful and demeaning” that a Halifax-area school would request that service members not wear military uniforms to its Remembrance Day ceremony.
Houston’s comments were part of a chorus of criticism levelled at the school — Sackville Heights Elementary — whose administration decided to back away from the plan after the outcry.
A November newsletter from the school in Middle Sackville, N.S., invited Armed Forces members to attend its ceremony but asked that all attendees arrive in civilian attire to “maintain a welcoming environment for all.”
Houston, who is currently running for re-election, accused the school’s leaders of “disgracing themselves while demeaning the people who protect our country” in a post on the social media platform X Thursday night.
“If the people behind this decision had a shred of the courage that our veterans have, this cowardly and insulting idea would have been rejected immediately,” Houston’s post read. There were also several calls for resignations within the school’s administration attached to Houston’s post.
In an email to families Thursday night, the school’s principal, Rachael Webster, apologized and welcomed military family members to attend “in the attire that makes them most comfortable.”
“I recognize this request has caused harm and I am deeply sorry,” Webster’s email read, adding later that the school has the “utmost respect for what the uniform represents.”
Webster said the initial request was out of concern for some students who come from countries experiencing conflict and who she said expressed discomfort with images of war, including military uniforms.
Her email said any students who have concerns about seeing Armed Forces members in uniform can be accommodated in a way that makes them feel safe, but she provided no further details in the message.
Webster did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
At a news conference Friday, Houston said he’s glad the initial request was reversed but said he is still concerned.
“I can’t actually fathom how a decision like that was made,” Houston told reporters Friday, adding that he grew up moving between military bases around the country while his father was in the Armed Forces.
“My story of growing up in a military family is not unique in our province. The tradition of service is something so many of us share,” he said.
“Saying ‘lest we forget’ is a solemn promise to the fallen. It’s our commitment to those that continue to serve and our commitment that we will pass on our respects to the next generation.”
Liberal Leader Zach Churchill also said he’s happy with the school’s decision to allow uniformed Armed Forces members to attend the ceremony, but he said he didn’t think it was fair to question the intentions of those behind the original decision.
“We need to have them (uniforms) on display at Remembrance Day,” he said. “Not only are we celebrating (veterans) … we’re also commemorating our dead who gave the greatest sacrifice for our country and for the freedoms we have.”
NDP Leader Claudia Chender said that while Remembrance Day is an important occasion to honour veterans and current service members’ sacrifices, she said she hopes Houston wasn’t taking advantage of the decision to “play politics with this solemn occasion for his own political gain.”
“I hope Tim Houston reached out to the principal of the school before making a public statement,” she said in a statement.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 8, 2024.
REGINA – Saskatchewan Opposition NDP Leader Carla Beck says she wants to prove to residents her party is the government in waiting as she heads into the incoming legislative session.
Beck held her first caucus meeting with 27 members, nearly double than what she had before the Oct. 28 election but short of the 31 required to form a majority in the 61-seat legislature.
She says her priorities will be health care and cost-of-living issues.
Beck says people need affordability help right now and will press Premier Scott Moe’s Saskatchewan Party government to cut the gas tax and the provincial sales tax on children’s clothing and some grocery items.
Beck’s NDP is Saskatchewan’s largest Opposition in nearly two decades after sweeping Regina and winning all but one seat in Saskatoon.
The Saskatchewan Party won 34 seats, retaining its hold on all of the rural ridings and smaller cities.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 8, 2024.
HALIFAX – Nova Scotia‘s growing population was the subject of debate on Day 12 of the provincial election campaign, with Liberal Leader Zach Churchill arguing immigration levels must be reduced until the province can provide enough housing and health-care services.
Churchill said Thursday a plan by the incumbent Progressive Conservatives to double the province’s population to two million people by the year 2060 is unrealistic and unsustainable.
“That’s a big leap and it’s making life harder for people who live here, (including ) young people looking for a place to live and seniors looking to downsize,” he told a news conference at his campaign headquarters in Halifax.
Anticipating that his call for less immigration might provoke protests from the immigrant community, Churchill was careful to note that he is among the third generation of a family that moved to Nova Scotia from Lebanon.
“I know the value of immigration, the importance of it to our province. We have been built on the backs of an immigrant population. But we just need to do it in a responsible way.”
The Liberal leader said Tim Houston’s Tories, who are seeking a second term in office, have made a mistake by exceeding immigration targets set by the province’s Department of Labour and Immigration. Churchill said a Liberal government would abide by the department’s targets.
In the most recent fiscal year, the government welcomed almost 12,000 immigrants through its nominee program, exceeding the department’s limit by more than 4,000, he said. The numbers aren’t huge, but the increase won’t help ease the province’s shortages in housing and doctors, and the increased strain on its infrastructure, including roads, schools and cellphone networks, Churchill said.
“(The Immigration Department) has done the hard work on this,” he said. “They know where the labour gaps are, and they know what growth is sustainable.”
In response, Houston said his commitment to double the population was a “stretch goal.” And he said the province had long struggled with a declining population before that trend was recently reversed.
“The only immigration that can come into this province at this time is if they are a skilled trade worker or a health-care worker,” Houston said. “The population has grown by two per cent a year, actually quite similar growth to what we experienced under the Liberal government before us.”
Still, Houston said he’s heard Nova Scotians’ concerns about population growth, and he then pivoted to criticize Prime Minister Justin Trudeau for trying to send 6,000 asylum seekers to Nova Scotia, an assertion the federal government has denied.
Churchill said Houston’s claim about asylum seekers was shameful.
“It’s smoke and mirrors,” the Liberal leader said. “He is overshooting his own department’s numbers for sustainable population growth and yet he is trying to blame this on asylum seekers … who aren’t even here.”
In September, federal Immigration Minister Marc Miller said there is no plan to send any asylum seekers to the province without compensation or the consent of the premier. He said the 6,000 number was an “aspirational” figure based on models that reflect each province’s population.
In Halifax, NDP Leader Claudia Chender said it’s clear Nova Scotia needs more doctors, nurses and skilled trades people.
“Immigration has been and always will be a part of the Nova Scotia story, but we need to build as we grow,” Chender said. “This is why we have been pushing the Houston government to build more affordable housing.”
Chender was in a Halifax cafe on Thursday when she promised her party would remove the province’s portion of the harmonized sales tax from all grocery, cellphone and internet bills if elected to govern on Nov. 26. The tax would also be removed from the sale and installation of heat pumps.
“Our focus is on helping people to afford their lives,” Chender told reporters. “We know there are certain things that you can’t live without: food, internet and a phone …. So we know this will have the single biggest impact.”
The party estimates the measure would save the average Nova Scotia family about $1,300 a year.
“That’s a lot more than a one or two per cent HST cut,” Chender said, referring to the Progressive Conservative pledge to reduce the tax by one percentage point and the Liberal promise to trim it by two percentage points.
Elsewhere on the campaign trail, Houston announced that a Progressive Conservative government would make parking free at all Nova Scotia hospitals and health-care centres. The promise was also made by the Liberals in their election platform released Monday.
“Free parking may not seem like a big deal to some, but … the parking, especially for people working at the facilities, can add up to hundreds of dollars,” the premier told a news conference at his campaign headquarters in Halifax.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 7, 2024.
