Republicans face a huge problem on abortion that no specific number of weeks ban will ever solve

To hear the hapless gang of Republican presidential wannabes last week, one might come away with the impression that the solution to their abortion problem is just about finding that perfect number, that Goldilocks formula that will simultaneously satisfy their Rapture-obsessed white evangelical base and somehow pass muster with the general public. Should we proudly trumpet our own state’s six-week ban? Or should we be more pragmatic and extend it to 12 or even 15 weeks? Or maybe the way to go is a total ban, even though everybody should remember that could take 60 Senate votes? Which ban on Americans’ personal reproductive health decisions will be “just right”?

Republicans will doubtlessly be playing this numbers game right up to Nov. 5, 2024, and on the day after the election, they’ll still be arguing about it, shaking their heads in a dazed state at their electoral losses. “But we thought we’d found the perfect number!” they’ll say—right before they start pointing fingers at one another.

The problem for Republicans? It’s not about a number. It’s about real human beings and the personal choices they have to make in their actual, day-to-day lives. And there’s nothing, practically speaking, that forced-birthers can say, no appeal they can make, that can personalize this debate, making it “hit home” as a political issue, in the same powerful, compelling way that the pro-choice majority can. 

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