California Referendum Could Help GOP Turn Tables in ‘War on Women’

A proposed California referendum to overturn AB 154, which allows non-physician abortions, could turn the abortion issue from a burden to a boost for Republicans. The law, signed by Gov. Jerry Brown last month, allows certified non-physicians to perform first-trimester abortions. Some of those abortions will involve a surgical procedure, leading one (pro-choice!) physician to call the measure a “license to kill.”

There are no theological questions here about when life begins, or women’s choice. The issue is women’s health, and avoiding a repeat of the horrors of the Gosnell clinic. Those who pushed for AB 154, such as Planned Parenthood, say the measure is needed because poor women do not have adequate access to doctors who will perform abortions. But those same women would be most at risk from non-physician error.

The conventional wisdom is that social issues hurt Republicans. But when voters understand how radical the Democratic Party position on abortion really is–abortion right up to (and for a few, right after) birth–they recoil. Even granting, for argument’s sake, the good intentions of AB 154, its effective consequence is to legalize back-alley abortions. That’s a real “war on women.” Perhaps it’s time for the GOP to turn the tables.