In 2010, 2012, and 2014, Democrats pounded the GOP on the “war on women.” It did little good, but the Democrats have kept it going. Within the Republican Party, the leaders and candidates, scared of another Todd Akin moment, have run from the issue of abortion.

But that might be changing thanks to Hillary Clinton.

Clinton yesterday tried to attack [mc_name name=’Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL)’ chamber=’senate’ mcid=’R000595′ ]’s position on abortion. She called him an extremist on the issue. Instead of doing the standard “clarifying his position,” [mc_name name=’Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL)’ chamber=’senate’ mcid=’R000595′ ] hit back hard.

He pointed out that Clinton is an extremist who supports ending life when the child can feel pain, opposes parental notification of a child having an abortion, and supports Planned Parenthood even after the organization was caught chopping up kids. He made no apology and ceded no ground.

At the RedState Gathering this past weekend, all the Republican candidates brought up Planned Parenthood and made it an issue. They all called for defunding the organization.

Meanwhile, Hillary went from being disturbed by the videos to fully standing by Planned Parenthood.

The problem is of Hillary’s own making. She is deeply distrusted by the heart of the Democratic Party. She is seen as too willing to compromise left-wing beliefs. So she is now having to wrap herself around left-wing core positions. She cannot do what her husband did and call for abortion to be “safe, legal, and rare.” Instead, she wants abortion on demand.

Abortion is one of the few social issues where the right has not seen its ground collapse. People recognize that a fetus is a child in the womb. They understand that children should be protected. They also understand that the woman who wrote It Takes a Village, is perfectly happy to let the village kill the child too.

Rubio is not, I think, an outlier, but rather the beginning of a trend. Republican Presidential candidates look like they will not shy away from the life issue but instead dare Hillary Clinton to run further and further out of the mainstream to shore up her left flank.