In the five states where abortion was on the ballot this Tuesday, the pro-life movement lost badly.
Michigan voters passed Proposal 3, which codifies a “right to reproductive access” in the state constitution and essentially neuters all existing restrictions on the procedure. Vermont and California passed similar measures, amending their state constitutions to enshrine abortion access. And in Kentucky and Montana, voters rejected pro-life measures. Kentucky’s measure would have amended the state constitution to state explicitly that it contains no right to abortion. Montana’s would have required healthcare providers to treat infants born alive after botched abortions.
The loss in Montana is particularly devastating. If pro-lifers can’t pass even the most basic, uncontroversial protections in a state that leans that far to the Right, how can they expect to rally support for heftier restrictions, such as heartbeat bans, in states that trend purple? The answer right now is they can’t.
In the months since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, it has become clear that the public sees abortion in black-and-white terms. People either don’t care about it, or they don’t understand the nuance the issue requires. Voters also have little desire to change the status quo on abortion. Perhaps they believe that passing a measure like Proposition 3 or rejecting one like Kentucky’s Amendment 2 will make sure things stay the way they are.
This aversion to change also helps explain why a majority of the public disagrees with the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe, even as the majority expresses support for abortion restrictions that would have been impossible under Roe. People like the idea of fewer abortions — as any normal person should — but aren’t convicted enough to do anything about it. It seems most voters see the right to life as an ideal that would require a great deal of moral effort to turn into reality, and many of them find themselves exhausted by the debate before it even begins.
The challenge for the pro-life movement will be to find a way around this apathy, to inspire voters to take abortion seriously. Many of us always knew this would be an uphill battle — indeed, has there ever been a pro-life victory accomplished without a massive amount of effort? But Tuesday’s results prove we should expect little change while hoping and praying for much more.
We must also recognize that change — even gradual change — is impossible absent a cultural revival. The sad truth is that our society has no moral backbone. Its convictions exist only in theory and are tossed aside as soon as the cultural headwinds begin to shift against them.
The best example of this is the debate over gay marriage. But abortion and even the transgender agenda run in the same vein. Polls show that a majority of voters on both sides of the political aisle object to late-term abortions and irreversible sex-change treatments for minors, yet their disapproval has not once turned into a repudiation of the officials responsible for permitting or pushing these heinous practices. West Coast Democrats, for example, continue to win office over and over again, despite stripping parents of their rights completely and allowing healthcare providers to mutilate gender-confused children as young as 13 years old.
There’s more hope on the gender ideology front right now than there is on abortion, but it’s still no guaranteed win — especially so long as there’s a disconnect between what voters say they want and whom they actually vote for.
I don’t say this to be defeatist, but it’s true: Conservative beliefs about individuality, sex, marriage, life, and the family — as right, true, and good as they are — are not beliefs held by a strong and reliable majority of the public. That means pro-life efforts are likely to continue to fail for a long time, and we must readjust our strategy and messaging to meet this reality. Let’s keep fighting for change, making compromises where necessary without surrendering our ultimate goal, always knowing that the labor will not have been in vain.
