Former Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-IL), now a CNN contributor, said Sunday on “State of the Union” that the Republican Party was caught in a “doom loop of like meanness” on abortion legislation.
Anchor Dana Bash said, “What’s going on in the GOP? Fascinating on the state level, Nebraska and South Carolina. You see two state legislatures where Republicans are saying, whoa! Let’s put the brakes on putting these restrictions on abortion. Where do you see the politics of this going for your party?
Kinzinger said, “I mean, the politics is terrible for the GOP. I mean, you have to have a consistent message. After we had the Dobbs decision, the GOP should have come out and say, we want to create a culture of life. How do you do that? Let’s encourage adoption. Let’s encourage responsible birth control use, stuff like that. Instead, it’s gone into this doom loop of like meanness. Now we’re going to make it six weeks. Now we’re going to make it four weeks. Now we’ll punish the women who have abortions. And you’re destroying any kind of culture of life that you had with this process. It’s terrible politics. And I think, frankly, these legislatures are now running against the wall and recognizing that this is going to cost them big in 2024.”
He added, “Now that it’s on the table and a real issue, you’re seeing actually the choice crowd come out and vote in a big way, and it’s going to switch the politics in 2024 unless Republicans can figure out how to talk about it and approach this issue reasonably and without cruelty.”
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