GOP leadership splits as party is 'getting hammered' on abortion

Republicans in the House and Senate are lost on what to do about abortion after the Supreme Court killed the landmark Roe v. Wade decision, according to a new Politico report.

For a party that once painted itself as small government and individual rights, the new battle over abortion rights puts Republicans in a difficult position. Minority Whip John Thune (R-ND) thinks that they can put restrictions on it, like a 15-week abortion ban. He warned his party was “getting hammered” on the matter.

“We’ve got to come up with a position that’s a winning one,” Thune said, speaking to Politico. “Our guys say, ‘well, it’s a states issue.’ Great, but the Dems are going to be out here advocating for what I think is a very extreme position. And we want to be able to contrast ours with theirs.”

By contrast, even Republican voters agree that the lawmakers have gone too far with inflexible solutions. While they're fine with some restrictions, the laws being pressed by the GOP are beyond what many conservative voters support, Pew's data shows.

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“The [Republican] Party, I don’t think, really is setting any sort of guidelines or coming to some consensus,” said Sen. Thom Tillis (R-NC).

“The answer is that those decisions should be made at the state level, instead of here in Washington D.C.,” said John Cornyn (R-TX), while calling himself an “unapologetically pro-life Republican.”

“I know that’s not entirely satisfactory for those who’d like to impose a national standard.”

“It was a significant factor in the last election. And I think it’ll be an issue going forward,” Sen. Kevin Cramer (R-ND) added. He backs the 15-week ban, however, which would impose restrictions on all states. Cramer advised his fellow Republicans to figure out a position and move on quickly.

Creating more headaches for the GOP, Texas Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk, who was nominated by Donald Trump and supported by Republicans, recently ruled against abortion medication.

Cornyn might have supported the judge that shot down the abortion pill, but now he's dancing around the issue.

"Judges are not supposed to make policy, as we know, but unfortunately today ... people are casting judges in a role as political actors," Cornyn told Politico. "But the remedy for judges making [an] erroneous decision is an appeal to the higher court. And that’s what’s happening.”

“It’s quite telling that with basically the same case, a different judge in a different jurisdiction ruled exactly the opposite way,” said Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK). She's openly said she regrets her approval of the anti-choice judge. Under oath, the Texas judge claimed that a judge should never consider his own values when deciding a case.

Read the full report at Politico.