With the rash of states passing extreme abortion restrictions, culminating in the total ban passed this week by Alabama, conservative Trump-skeptic Washington Post columnist Jennifer Rubin wrote on Thursday that the tide seems to have turned — and after years of saber rattling against Roe v. Wade, Republicans in Congress are suddenly fearful of backlash from women around the country.
Rubin noted that two Republicans, Sen. Martha McSally (R-AZ) and House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) refused to endorse Alabama's abortion ban, with McSally saying "That’s a state issue. I’m focused on my work here," and McCarthy explicitly rebuking the bill's lack of provisions for rape and incest.
"The pro-choice forces are marshaling resources, engaging in massive organizing in all 50 states as part of its Stop the Bans initiative, financing legal challenges and pressing presidential candidates to explain their plan to address abortion bans," wrote Rubin, and NARAL Pro-Choice America president Ilyse Hogue is already mounting a plan of attack against the GOP anywhere they attack abortion rights.
"Republicans in red statehouses, as Hogue put it, are engaged in a macabre 'one down-manship' as they race to outdo one another in crafting severe, oppressive legislative," continued Rubin. "There's a 'drunken headiness of the extreme fringe' of the GOP, she says."
"National Republicans, including Trump, had better sober up quickly," concluded Rubin. "They've triggered a fierce backlash that may make the female voters of 2018 look docile in comparison."