Abortion returns to forefront as big issue for 2014 elections

Associated Press

ATLANTA

With no immediate hope of overturning the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision legalizing abortion, Republicans around the country are increasingly pushing legislation to restrict the procedure, and Democrats say they’ll make the GOP pay in coming elections.

From statehouses to Congress, Republicans have advanced a range of ideas: banning nearly all abortions beyond the 20th week after conception; making abortion clinics follow regulations for surgical care; mandating that clinic physicians have admitting privileges at local hospitals; requiring women to get ultrasounds before terminating a pregnancy.

The issue, which is figuring prominently in early 2016 White House race maneuvering, energizes social conservatives who influence many Republican primaries and drive GOP success in nonpresidential years when the electorate is older, whiter and more conservative. And some Republicans say more- moderate voters will support their agenda in the wake of the murder conviction against Kermit Gosnell, the Philadelphia abortion doctor who jurors determined killed babies who’d survived the procedure.

But Democrats and abortion-rights advocates say Republicans already have overreached — the noticeable uptick in restrictions began with GOP gains in 2010 elections, before Gosnell’s prosecution began — and that moderate voters have other priorities.

“Defense workers are being furloughed, student- loan interest rates have doubled, and these Republicans insist on a relentless pursuit of more restrictions on women’s freedoms,” said Rep. Steve Israel, chairman of the Democrats’ national congressional campaign for 2014. “Swing voters are by their very nature moderate; they want solutions, not ideological warfare.”

The House of Representatives adopted a 20-week ban in June. It has no chance of passing the Democratic-run Senate.

North Carolina’s newfound legislative supermajority wants to regulate clinics more heavily. Pat McCrory, the Republican governor, announced late Friday he would sign an updated abortion- regulation bill if it reaches his desk, saying a legislator had addressed concerns about restricting a woman’s access. Texas Gov. Rick Perry called his GOP Legislature back into session to consider a 20-week ban and sweeping regulatory changes after a Democratic filibuster derailed the measure and drew national attention last month. The Legislature passed the bill Friday, and it’s headed to Perry’s desk.