Where Republican Midterm Candidates Really Stand on Abortion

The 2022 midterm elections will have major implications for abortion rights across the country. Democrats in Congress could pass legislation like the Women’s Health Protection Act to protect abortion access and restore some of what was lost in the overturning of Roe if they win a majority on November 8. Republicans could advance the 15-week national abortion ban Senator Lindsay Graham has proposed if they win control. Governors, meanwhile, will determine abortion access in their states.

Survey data show that 61 percent of Americans believe abortion should be legal in all or most cases. And since the Supreme Court’s decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, Kansas voters decisively rejected a ballot proposal that would have amended the state’s constitution to say it doesn’t protect abortion rights. Perhaps realizing that stridently anti-abortion positions are out of step with a majority of voters, Republicans in recent months have scrubbed their campaign websites of abortion policies, walked back hard-line anti-abortion statements, and sometimes outright lied about what they’ve said on the issue.

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