Biden to sign order seeking to protect birth control accessWASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden is banking on reproductive rights to be a galvanizing issue for voters in 2024. The Democrat has collected three top-level endorsements, plans on issuing an executive order to bolster access to contraception, and is hosting a rally Friday ahead of the anniversary of the Supreme Court decision that overturned Roe v. Wade. The endorsements are from Planned Parenthood Action Fund, NARAL Pro-Choice America and Emily's List. The groups are throwing their early support behind Biden's reelection effort in part to highlight the importance of the issue for Democrats heading into the election year. 2024 GOP candidates call for federal abortion limitsWASHINGTON (AP) — Top Republican presidential candidates are calling for imposing federal limits on abortion, declaring at a gathering of some of their party's most influential evangelical Christian leaders that the year-old Supreme Court decision overturning Roe v. Wade didn't go far enough. Hundreds of attendees of the Faith & Freedom Coalition's annual conference, which opened Friday, believe abortion policy can continue to be a strength for Republicans, even as Democrats insist the issue will buoy them in 2024. Former President Donald Trump is addressing the gathering on Saturday night. Many of his top Republican presidential primary rivals spoke Friday, each promoting their pro-life credentials. Former Vice President Mike Pence used the gathering to urge his rivals for the Republican presidential nomination to support a 15-week federal abortion ban at minimum. "We must not rest and we must not relent until we restore the sanctity of life to the center of American law in every state in this country," Pence said. |
The abortion fight became further magnified last week when a deadlocked Iowa Supreme Court failed to rule in a challenge to the state’s controversial fetal heartbeat law.
Passed by the legislature in 2018, the law faced an immediate lawsuit filed by Planned Parenthood in January of 2019 and was struck down by a state judge. It was never enacted.
The law sought to ban doctors from performing most abortions once a fetal heartbeat can be detected which can happen as early as five weeks into a pregnancy.
Current Iowa law limits abortion after 20 weeks.
Bob Vander Plaats is the president and CEO of The Family Leader, a Christian non-profit group that seeks to inspire leadership in the home, church and government. On the issue of abortion, he says says candidates stumping in Iowa better get ready to choose a side.
“Oh, it's a big issue, and after what the Iowa Supreme Court just did on Friday, it's going to be a bigger issue," Vander Plaats told the "Washington Watch" program on Wednesday.
A veteran of political races, Vander Plaats recalled a pro-life stance helped Mike Huckabee in 2008, Rick Santorum in 2012, and Ted Cruz in 2016.
"So, if someone wants to win the Iowa caucuses, and Iowa's more crucial than ever this year, they're going to have to be right on the sanctity of life,” Vander Plaats told the program.
Republican Gov. Kim Reynolds asked the state Supreme Court to reinstate the fetal heartbeat law. The court deadlocked at 3-3 with one member, Justice Dana Oxley, having recused herself because her former law firm represented one of the plaintiffs in the original case.
All seven justices are Reynolds appointees.
‘The fight is not over,’ governor says
Pro-abortion advocates celebrated the tie but both sides are geared up for more maneuvering which could include legislative proposals.
“The fight is not over,” Reynolds told reporters. “There is no right more sacred than human life, and nothing more worthy of our strongest defense than the innocent unborn. We are reviewing our options in a preparation for continuing the fight.”
Planned Parenthood said it will oppose any new legislative efforts to restrict abortion.
Vander Platts said abortion is a litmus test on the trust factor for a candidate.
“We tell people our first thing we want to (figure out) is can we trust a candidate," he explained. "And if you can trust them on the sanctity of human life, typically you can trust them on a lot more."
The court’s decision was a political setback for Reynolds but Vander Plaats says the governor remains strong on the issue of life – and in the eyes of her constituents.
“You have a governor who has popularity ratings through the roof," he advises. "People love her and her core issue is the sanctity of human life. That’s her line in the sand.”
The abortion line of demarcation
Abortion rights were a key issue between Reynolds and Democratic challenger Deidre DeJear before Reynolds won a second term with 58.1 percent of the vote last November.
Reynolds has been pro-family in other ways. A month ago she signed a bill restricting gender identity and sexual orientation discussions in schools through the sixth grade. The same bill removed books depicting sex acts from school libraries.
Vander Plaats says Christians in Iowa have become politically active.
“We’re seeing an inspired church in the arena of government for the advancement of God’s Kingdom and basically strengthening the family. We’re seeing that all the time,” he said. “They’re not buying any more that these are (strictly) political issues. These are biblical issues and the gospel speaks to all of it."
That engagement is making Iowa stand out among states, Vander Plaats said.
“Iowa is a premiere state in the country right now," he said, "where a lot of people look and say, ‘They’re doing something right there.’”
