Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) is calling on fellow Republicans to update their strategy on abortion policy ahead of the 51st annual March for Life rally in Washington, D.C., this week.
“This moment is an opportunity for Republicans to refocus and remember who we are,” Rubio said in a memorandum on a “winning pro-life strategy” published Tuesday. “Our party believes in the dignity of the human person, the importance of family, and the undeniable right to life.”
Support for abortion rights has increased after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022, making abortion a matter of state policy rather than protected by the federal Constitution.
Rubio cited a Wall Street Journal poll showing that 55% of people say that a woman should be able to obtain a legal abortion for any reason.
Rubio criticized his fellow Republicans who are shying away from the issue due to losses in the 2022 midterm elections and in state-level races in 2023.
“The debate over abortion is ultimately a clash of values — about justice, plain right versus wrong,” Rubio said, adding that many Republicans are too “afraid to speak up” against the “gruesome practice” of abortion.
Rubio said a key pillar in advancing abortion restrictions is to support mothers and babies through strengthening pro-family policies such as the child tax credit, paid parental leave, and enhanced child support enforcement.
Rubio also blamed the trope that Republicans only care about babies in the womb on members of the party who utilize “clumsy rhetoric and austere ideology” and are reluctant to “extend a helping hand to families in time of need.”
The conservative senator also stated that the party needs to combat extreme examples of abortion-rights rhetoric with accurate medical information about abortion bans, stressing that they do not criminalize treatment for medical emergencies such as miscarriage, stillbirth, or ectopic pregnancy care.
Rubio also said that anti-abortion advocates must admit that the abortion debate has an inherent conflict between “the right of women to control their bodies, and the right of every human being to be free from unjust violence.”
“We need to navigate this difficult terrain with sympathy, without abandoning the deeply moral mission of protecting the unborn,” Rubio said.
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Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra announced on Tuesday that he will be hosting a traveling speaker series on abortion rights and reproductive healthcare during the same week as the March for Life, both of which commemorate the date of the Roe decision in 1973.
“HHS will continue to take concrete action to protect women’s access to reproductive care, contraception, and abortion,” Becerra said in a press statement. “In America, every woman should be able to access the health care they need.”
