Some fellow pro-lifers I respect and have worked with over the years are very upset by ’s direct-to-camera saying that he respects the will of Michigan voters and will treat abortion as a state issue should he go to the Senate. The frustration is understandable, with Rogers repeating some liberal tropes about how hard it is to decide whether to have an abortion, but the online anger at Rogers also fundamentally misconceives the current abysmal politics of abortion and the actual stakes of the race.
To begin with, what was Rogers responding to? His opponent, , used leaked audio wherein Rogers touted his perfect pro-life record in the House to claim that a vote for Rogers is a vote for a . “National abortion bans” are unpopular generally and likely so especially in Michigan, which — by recent constitutional referendum — legalized abortion entirely with no gestational limits or waiting periods. They also aren’t happening. Leaving aside the fact that Republicans can’t get 60 votes in the Senate even to debate criminalizing live-birth infanticide, a lot of staunch conservative senators with sophisticated legal views sincerely believe it’s a state issue and wouldn’t want to touch it. A “national abortion ban” would be lucky to get 30 votes.
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