Republicans are “walking the plank” by pursuing the strictest possible abortion laws, according to GOP Representative Nancy Mace.
In the wake of the Supreme Court overturning Roe v. Wade last summer, Republican lawmakers across the country have begun pursuing laws to restrict abortion access with renewed vigor, especially in states where they hold majority power. Some Republican 2024 presidential candidates have also said they would support some sort of a federal abortion law that would restrict access to the medical procedure everywhere.
Abortion access has proven to be resiliently popular among voters in the wake of Roe ending, however. Numerous polls have found majority support for abortion rights in most states, red or blue, and every state-level election concerning the matter in the last year has seen voters come out strongly in support of protecting access to abortion.
Speaking with CNN for a profile released on Sunday, Mace, a two-term congresswoman from a moderate South Carolina district, outlined her rare stance as an anti-abortion Republican in favor of broader exceptions for women seeking the procedure. Having spoken openly about her own sexual assaults as a teen, Mace has advocated strongly for rape and incest exceptions in abortion laws. She has also called for limits of around 12 to 15 weeks, not six weeks, as many conservative legislatures in the United States have pursued.
Mace told CNN that Republicans unwilling to make some compromises on abortion are inviting huge electoral risks moving forward.
“I think they’re walking the plank,” she said when asked if stricter abortion laws will doom Republicans in more moderate districts.
Mace was also critical of her Republican colleagues for not pursuing other reforms that might help women who choose not to have abortions, like improvements to foster care and childcare programs.
“No woman wants to go to the doctor and make the decision that she’s going to have an abortion, nobody wants that,” the GOP lawmaker said. “And what are we doing to ensure that she doesn’t have to make that decision? What are we doing about the foster care system? What are we doing about child care? We’re doing none of those things.”
Newsweek reached out to Mace’s office via email for further comment.
Mace has represented South Carolina’s 1st District since 2021, successfully winning reelection in 2022 despite running against a candidate that was endorsed by Donald Trump. She previously worked for the former president’s 2016 campaign, but strongly turned against him after the January 6, 2021, Capitol riot, though she did not vote to impeach him.
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