Ever since the right-wing Supreme Court struck down Roe v. Wade last summer to the joy of forced birth Christofascists who form the activist core of the Malignant Loser's party, they've found that their extreme, misogynist positions on women's reproductive rights are toxic to the majority of voters. Being a party that has long trafficked in subterfuge and lies, they are meeting the electoral challenge by cynically trying to fuzz up the terminology. Amanda Marcotte, at Salon.com, has a great article that explores their plan:
"The GOP plans to nominate a widely hated chronic criminal for president in 2024, which already dampens their party's odds at the polls. The added headache of abortion is making the situation dire for Republicans indeed. Of course, the solution was never going to be dropping the religious right and going forward as a less fascist, more moderate party. (Which would also require dropping Donald Trump.) Instead, Republicans have latched onto the last resort for a losing agenda: Playing word games in hopes of tricking voters.
'Republicans are trying to find a new term for 'pro-life' to stave off more electoral losses,' reads the headline last week from NBC News. GOP strategists presented polling data to Senate Republicans, the article explains, showing the term "pro-life" has become toxic to voters. But rather than accept that this reflects the larger public opposition to abortion bans, Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., insisted voters don't 'probably don't" know what "pro-life" means. Sen. Todd Young, R-Ind. suggested a rebranding of "pro-baby," claiming he just wants 'to demonstrate my concern for babies.'
Obviously, there is nothing 'pro-baby' about a party that consistently opposes funding for health care, food security, or education. Nor is there anything 'pro-baby' about a party that rejects gun safety measures necessary to keep children from getting shot up in schools and grocery stores. But beyond that, really, is the sheer contempt for the voters that radiates off these comments. Hawley and Young really capture how Republicans think voters are stupid enough to be bamboozled with a little bit of linguistic hand-waving." (our emphasis)
The entire article is well worth reading. The right wing evangelical movement which has increased its hold on the Republican / Forced Birth / Shooters party ever since Richard Nixon embraced the "Moral Majority" reactionary politics of Jerry Falwell, Pat Robertson and the like in the early 1970s. The politics of evangelicalism has deep roots in the segregated South, and was integral to Nixon's Southern Strategy of bringing Dixiecrats into the Republican fold. Now, rather than moderating their positions on abortion rights, which would anger their Christofascist base, they're resorting to their favorite pastime: hiding their unpopular positions behind demagogic lies.
