Roughly 600,000 women get abortions annually. Many of these mothers have been conservatives living in red states. It is not a fact that is often discussed, but in an op-ed for Politico, Sam Zeleski, who has worked with multiple political campaigns, put forth the argument that Republicans should take a more lenient approach to the abortion issue in part because many women whose politics align with theirs have had the procedure. But there is something she appears to be missing.
Zaleski begins her piece by recounting her experience getting pregnant during her senior year at a Catholic school and how she eventually terminated her pregnancy.
“I ultimately had an abortion, and I don’t regret the decision,” she writes. “It made me a firm believer in the importance of abortion rights — for economic mobility, for autonomy, for mental health. I did choose life when I chose to have an abortion — my own life.”
The author explained that having the abortion “ended up setting me on a path where I’d spend the better part of my career committed to helping Republicans win elections as a pollster, data analyst and strategist.”
Her career gave her the ability to see that “many women who have supported Republicans have had abortions” and that “many women who agree with various conservative policies, too, have had abortions.”
Zaleski notes that while many on the right don’t have “personal experience with abortion,” they “still have complicated feelings about the procedure.”
The pollster goes on to argue that while the GOP is now passing restrictions on abortion after the overturning of Roe v. Wade, they “either ignore the issue or articulate extreme and alienating views.”
She writes:
The party’s lack of compassion on the topic is harmful. There is a growing mismatch between the party’s stance on abortion and the complex beliefs voters in this country have on abortion. And while we’re deep into the midterms, there is still an opportunity to pull back the rhetoric and support empathetic, commonsense ways to provide pregnant women with the care they deserve.
Later in the piece, she breaks down the numbers of abortions taking place in red states. She explains:
But some of the reddest states in the country — states that struggle to even elect Democrats to public office — still see significant numbers of abortions, even with very few clinics operating in these states. In 2019, here were some of the numbers of abortions coming out of the reddest states in America: 2,922 in Utah, just over 1,100 in North Dakota, 2,963 in Arkansas and 6,009 in Alabama. The faces and stories behind these abortions would likely surprise us. They shouldn’t.
Zaleski again points out the lack of empathy found in many right-leaning areas when it comes to abortion and how it affects mothers who make that choice. “In the community I’ve been a part of, I don’t see people coming forward to share their personal stories with abortion. And why would they? It’s clearly not safe to have had an abortion — and it’s particularly not safe to say it out loud,” she explained.
The author then asks how Republicans can “meaningfully engage on the issue of abortion access” and how they can pass legislation if they “can’t even talk about it.”
I would imagine Zaleski’s story is more common than we might think. But I don’t believe for a second that most conservatives aren’t aware of the reality that women in conservative areas obtain abortions. Plenty of women find themselves with an unexpected pregnancy – not just liberals. These individuals struggle to decide what to do with their unborn child, and, unfortunately, many choose abortion.
However, it does not follow that this reality somehow means that Republicans must support abortion and refrain from passing legislation restricting the procedure. What Zaleski – like most on the pro-abortion side – miss is that this debate centers on the lives growing inside these mothers, not on the career prospects of the one carrying the child. In fact, there is a scant mention of the unborn baby in her article.
Would we support the killing of toddlers just because some Republican women have abortions? Of course not – I’m sure Zaleski herself would not co-sign such an idea. The issue at hand is the life of the child, which is inherently viable because it is a human being. None of what the author argues is a compelling argument to support the procedure.
However, Zaleski makes an excellent point when she brings up the lack of empathy and compassion found amongst many on the right. Some on the pro-life side do use inflammatory rhetoric when it comes to mothers who have aborted or are considering aborting their unborn child. It’s understandable given that we are talking about the life of a human child that hangs in the balance.
Nevertheless, pro-lifers cannot possibly hope to persuade mothers to keep their children if there isn’t a level of compassion for the situation she faces – even if it is because of her own actions. Indeed, the reason crisis pregnancy centers exist is to offer this compassion and to provide assistance for the mother and her child. One cannot browbeat a mother into foregoing an abortion procedure, but they sure can love her through it.
Now that the federal government cannot regulate abortion, we on the pro-life side need to support organizations that are there to aid these mothers. We have to push for policy designed to ensure that these women have what they need to ensure that abortion isn’t even an option. This is how we should participate in the conversation about abortion – with a compassionate spirit and a firm resolve to safeguard the lives of the unborn.
