Ron Johnson urges the Republican Party to unite on abortion or face electoral losses

APPLETON – Wisconsin’s top Republican urged the battleground state’s party faithful to unify their stance on abortion to win in November, warning that Democrats will seek to make the 2024 presidential election a referendum on the issue.

U.S. Senator Ron Johnson, in a speech at the Wisconsin Republican Party’s state convention in Appleton, tried to frame the issue in a misleading argument as protecting abortion policy from becoming a policy of allowing infanticide.

He cited broad support from Democrats in Congress for a bill that would prohibit government restrictions on abortion access, allowing access to abortion until the fetus becomes viable at approximately 24 weeks of pregnancy, and would allow the procedure to be performed after 24 weeks only if when the doctor determines that continuing the pregnancy poses a threat to the mother’s health or life. Johnson characterized the policy as supporting abortion “up to the point of birth.”

Johnson said Republicans should unite on the issue or face more voter losses.

“I said this election was about a referendum on democratic governance, not about what the Democrats are going to turn it into, which is a referendum on abortion,” Johnson said.

“We have a broad spectrum in the Republican Party … and I have the utmost respect for people who – because I think we all agree that life begins at conception – want to protect life,” Johnson said. “I totally respect that. But that’s probably not where most Americans, most Wisconsinites, and probably even most Republicans end up.”

“I know people don’t like what I say. Many people in this room don’t like what I’m saying. I’m just stating the reality because ultimately we have to win the election.”

More:Voters should be shown what abortion “looks like at every stage of pregnancy,” says Senator Ron Johnson

Johnson’s comments come as Republicans seek to support former President Donald Trump on an issue raised by the members of the U.S. Supreme Court he appointed after overturning Roe v. Wade in 2022.

The latest poll from Marquette University School of Law shows Trump and President Joe Biden competing within the margin of error. While campaigning against Trump, Biden focused heavily on the issue of abortion.

Wisconsin Republicans are struggling hard to deal with the political fallout from the ruling overturning Roe v. Wade, which effectively restored a law that for more than a century had been interpreted as banning all abortions except when the mother dies without an abortion. Since then, abortion has become a major race issue in Wisconsin.

The issue of abortion played a key role in Wisconsin’s 2022 midterm elections and the 2023 state Supreme Court race, leading to victories for Democratic and liberal candidates who put the issue at the center of their campaigns.

In a recent Marquette University Law School poll, 24% of Democratic voters said they considered abortion the most important issue when deciding who to vote for, followed by the economy. For independent and Republican voters, 5% of these groups ranked abortion as their most important issue.

While abortion was the leading issue among Democratic participants, the economy was the No. 1 issue for all survey respondents, followed by immigration and abortion policy. Voters found Democratic President Joe Biden better on abortion and health care, and Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump better on the economy and immigration.

A majority of registered voters in Wisconsin (54%) also said they strongly or somewhat favored a nationwide ban on abortion after 15 weeks of pregnancy, except for rape, incest and the life and health of the mother.

In the same poll, 64% of voters said they believed abortion should be legal in all or most cases, while 35% said it should be illegal in all or most cases.

Johnson previously supported 2011 legislation recognizing that the right to life begins at conception, and has repeatedly co-sponsored federal legislation that would ban abortion 20 weeks after fertilization.

After Roe was overturned, Johnson suggested that voters should be able to consider the question: “At what point does society have an obligation to protect the life of an unborn child?” with options ranging from banning abortion at conception, through every month of pregnancy, down to the eighth month or “never.”