Republican Rep. Nancy Mace Says GOP Will ‘Lose Huge’ If It Doesn’t Moderate On Abortion

Rep. Nancy Mace (R-South Carolina) cautioned against further state-level initiatives attempting to limit abortion access on ABC’s This Week on Sunday or they will “lose huge.”

While saying she’s a “constitutional conservative who’s pro-life,” Mace argued that Republicans need to “read the room” politically and find a “middle ground” on abortion.

Mace argued that Republicans should stop catering to the “extremities” of the conservative movement and support  “common sense positions” such as exceptions for rape and easy access to birth control.

She directly called out the recent six-week abortion ban signed by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) last week in his state. She also scolded a fringe bill supported by a small contingent of far-right representatives in her state of South Carolina—a bill that would enable the death penalty to be levied against women who have an abortion.

Since the overturning of Roe vs. Wade last summer, the extent to which conservatives should capitalize on their new power has been hotly debated in right-wing circles.

On one side of the debate is the religious right, a major constituency of the current Republican Party that is staunchly pro-life and believes that the reversal of Roe vs. Wade should be immediately seized upon to push further restrictions. Former Vice President Mike Pence represents this faction of the party well, as he continues to support a national abortion ban.

Other Republicans like Mace, however, fear the political ramifications of aggressively pursuing the religious right’s agenda. They are concerned that the Republican Party may appear too extreme for the mainstream and could be detrimental in a general election.

To support their claim, Republicans like Mace point to the 2022 midterms where Republicans underperformed expectations. Many experts believe that the association of Republican candidates with the Roe vs. Wade‘s reversal just months earlier led to this result.

While former President Donald Trump appointed three of the judges who voted to overturn Roe vs. Wade, he has remained relatively quiet on the issue as he looks toward the 2024 election.