DNC slams ‘MAGA Republicans’ over Iowa abortion ban

The Democratic National Committee (DNC) on Wednesday slammed “MAGA Republicans” after Iowa passed a six-week abortion ban in the state, highlighting comments by several 2024 GOP White House candidates backing bans on the procedure.

“MAGA Republicans just passed a bill that would force Iowan women to give birth,” DNC Chair Jaime Harrison said in a release.

The ban, Harrison said, was “only possible” because of former President Trump and his Supreme Court appointees, who ruled in a landmark decision last summer to overturn Roe v. Wade and hand the decision to restrict or protect abortion over to the states. 

“Republican abortion extremists are running for the highest office in the United States, and we know they won’t stop until they rip away reproductive freedom from every woman in this country,” Harrison said. 

Urging voters to “take it from the candidates themselves,” the DNC also highlighted comments backing abortion bans from former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson, Miami Mayor Francis Suarez, former Texas Rep. Will Hurd, former U.N. ambassador Nikki Haley and Florida Gov Ron DeSantis — who are among the dozen GOP candidates running for the White House in 2024. 

The DNC highlighted that former Vice President Pence and Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.), both of whom are running for the Republican nomination in 2024, have backed the idea of a federal 15-week abortion ban. 

“MAGA Republicans’ relentless crusade against abortion won’t end until they ban abortion nationwide,” the DNC said. 

Hutchinson told “Fox News Sunday” in April that he’d sign “a pro-life bill … that sets reasonable restrictions” and Suarez told the Wall Street Journal last month that he’d back a 15-week ban with exceptions for rape, incest and the life of the mother. 

Hurd has said that “15 weeks sounds right,” and Haley said in May that she’d sign a federal ban, but expressed doubt that such a bill would get the votes necessary to advance.  

DeSantis, who signed a six-week ban on abortion into law in Florida earlier this year, has avoided defining his stance on a federal ban and said he thinks “there’s a role for both the federal [government] and the states.” The Florida governor has been polling as a top challenger to Trump in the 2024 ring. 

Trump himself has been more evasive about whether he’d back a federal ban, arguing in May that “exceptions are very important.” He said last month that there’s a “vital role for the federal government in protecting unborn life.”

Iowa Republicans, who hold large majorities in both the state House and Senate, passed a bill in the state on Tuesday that would ban most abortions after six weeks of pregnancy, restricting the legal threshold from its current 22-week gestation mark. 

Abortion providers and the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) sued on Tuesday to challenge the Iowa bill, which is headed to Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds (R)'s desk.

After the conservative-majority Supreme Court voted last June to overturn the right to abortion in Roe v. Wade, some states moved to shore up abortion protections, while others acted quickly to restrict access to the procedure. More than a year after the controversial decision, abortion is appearing as a crucial issue for candidates as the 2024 race heats up.

The Republican Party doesn't appear to have a clear consensus for its candidates on the issue, with differing opinions on both a federal ban and whether the cutoff point should sit at 15 weeks or elsewhere.

Another White House contender, North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum (R), has also signed a six-week abortion ban in his state, but he said last week that he would not sign a federal abortion ban if he was elected, arguing he supports the Supreme Court's decision and that "this is the decision that should be left to the states."

Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, another GOP contender, has said “the federal government should not be involved" and that each state should make its own call on abortion, rather than a federal ban.

Vivek Ramaswamy has told CNN that he doesn't think a federal ban "makes any sense," and conservative radio host Larry Elder wrote in an op-ed last year that the Supreme Court "properly returned" the issue of abortion to the states with its overturning of Roe.