What Candidates in Tight House Races Are Saying About Abortion

Josh Riley, the Democratic challenger working for Congress in New York’s nineteenth District, has a transparent message on abortion: “I consider that ladies’s well being care selections are girls’s well being care selections and that politicians ought to keep the hell out of it.”

And his Republican opponent, the incumbent Consultant Marc Molinaro, is saying almost the identical factor: “I consider well being care selections ought to be between a girl and her physician, not Washington.”

Throughout the nation’s best Home races, Republicans have spent months attempting to redefine themselves on abortion, going as far as to borrow language that might not really feel misplaced at a rally of Vice President Kamala Harris. Many Republicans who till lately backed federal abortion restrictions at the moment are saying the difficulty ought to be left to the states.

At the very least a half-dozen Republican candidates have put out direct-to-camera advertisements declaring their opposition to a federal abortion ban. As an alternative, they are saying, they assist exceptions to present state legal guidelines and again protections for reproductive well being care, equivalent to I.V.F.

Republican candidates deal with abortion head-on in marketing campaign movies

Click on on any video within the grid to play it.

Anthony D’Esposito

Republican, N.Y. 4

Mike Lawler

Republican, N.Y. 17

Marc Molinaro

Republican, N.Y. 19

Joe Kent

Republican, Wash. 3

Michelle Metal

Republican, C.A. 45

Juan Ciscomani

Republican, Ariz. 6

Democrats have raised the potential of a nationwide abortion ban ought to Republicans win in November, and they’re framing the marketing campaign as one other referendum on the Supreme Courtroom’s Dobbs determination, which overturned Roe v. Wade. They’re hoping to proceed their run of electoral successes because the 2022 determination to win again management of the Home.

Any new federal laws on abortion must go each the Home and the Senate and be signed by the president to turn into regulation. However whichever celebration emerges with a majority within the Home could have the power to dictate the legislative agenda, together with whether or not measures to limit or broaden abortion entry have the prospect to go.

Republicans in California and New York in particular, who’re working in swing districts in blue states that favor abortion rights, have felt essentially the most strain to handle the difficulty straight. “If we don’t speak in regards to the difficulty, we turn into regardless of the Democrats say we’re,” stated Will Reinert, the press secretary for the Nationwide Republican Congressional Committee.

To higher perceive how abortion is enjoying a task in these campaigns, The New York Occasions surveyed candidates from each events within the most competitive House races about their assist for federal limits on abortion. The Occasions additionally checked out voting data, points listed on marketing campaign web sites, debate and media protection, and endorsements from main abortion rights and anti-abortion teams.

The Occasions survey confirmed that whereas Republicans are notably targeted on what they won’t do on abortion on the federal stage, their Democratic opponents are speaking about what they’ll do to guard abortion rights. Practically all of the Democratic candidates stated they supported restoring the protections of Roe v. Wade, which might enable entry to abortion till fetal viability, or round 24 weeks, in each state.

In assault advertisements, Democrats are pointing to their opponents’ voting data or previous statements as proof of extremism — regardless of what they might be saying now.

Democratic candidates spotlight Republicans’ data on abortion in marketing campaign movies

Click on on any video within the grid to play it.

Josh Riley marketing campaign

Democrat, N.Y. 19

Will Rollins marketing campaign

Democrat, Calif. 41

Extra broadly, abortion rights teams stated Republicans are deceptive voters by claiming they don’t assist an outright abortion “ban,” after they may assist a federal “restrict” or “commonplace,” such because the 15-week proposal put forward by Senator Lindsey Graham in 2022.

“They’re enjoying round with the semantics; they’re clearly testing out completely different framing and messaging in an try and try to deceive voters as a result of they notice how politically unpopular their coverage stances are,” stated Jessica Arons, a director of coverage and authorities affairs on the American Civil Liberties Union.

Republicans within the Occasions survey nearly universally declined to reply questions on gestational limits. Just one, Consultant Don Bacon of Nebraska, stated he supported a selected federal restrict, within the third trimester.

The Republican shift away from publicly supporting a federal ban follows the lead of former President Donald J. Trump, who has changed his own language on the difficulty after seeing the electoral backlash to the Dobbs determination.

As lately as 2021, a majority of House Republicans — together with seven incumbents on this yr’s tossup races — co-sponsored the Life at Conception Act, a invoice that might have amounted to a nationwide abortion ban. This yr, Consultant Scott Perry of Pennsylvania’s tenth District was the one incumbent in a aggressive race to stay on as a co-sponsor.

Two Republican incumbents who now say they oppose a nationwide ban — Representatives Ken Calvert and David Valadao in California — voted in favor of a 20-week ban that handed the Home in 2017. Consultant Mariannette Miller-Meeks, an Iowa Republican, co-sponsored a 15-week ban on abortion in 2022. She didn’t reply to questions on whether or not she nonetheless helps it.

Different Republicans described themselves as personally “pro-life” however stated they accepted the abortion laws in place in their states. Rob Bresnahan Jr., a challenger in Pennsylvania’s eighth District, stated he supported the state’s present regulation, which permits abortion till 24 weeks.

Democrats, after they weren’t attacking Republicans, leaned into language about private freedom, with many within the survey saying the federal government shouldn’t be concerned in medical selections.

One other frequent chorus was that the choice to have an abortion ought to be “between a girl and her physician.” Two Democrats used comparable language slightly than explicitly calling for federal abortion protections.

By showing to average their stance on abortion, candidates have risked dropping the backing of distinguished advocacy teams. Solely three Republicans within the tossup races acquired an endorsement from Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America, and 7 acquired one from National Right to Life.

Two main abortion rights teams, against this, endorsed almost all of the Democratic candidates. Deliberate Parenthood — whose political motion fund is pouring $40 million into the marketing campaign — endorsed all however six candidates, whereas Reproductive Freedom for All endorsed all however 4.

Consultant Jared Golden, the Democratic incumbent in Maine’s 2nd Congressional District — an space Mr. Trump won by six points in 2020 — didn’t get Deliberate Parenthood’s endorsement this yr. He stated the rationale was his vote for the 2024 protection coverage invoice, which included an modification blocking reimbursement for abortion travel costs for service members.

Mr. Golden stated he was not involved in regards to the lack of assist from the group, pointing as an alternative to his co-sponsorship of the Ladies’s Well being Safety Act, a invoice to revive the protections of Roe.

“I’m fairly assured that voters in Maine know the place I stand,” he stated.