Analysis: No homes for anti-abortion Democrats, pro-abortion rights Republicans

The confirmation of U.S. Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh last fall brought abortion into the public consciousness in a way perhaps not seen in years.

The court's landmark 1973 decision in Roe v. Wade became vulnerable in the eyes of many observers wary of the increased conservatism of President Donald Trump's appointees.

Traditional Republicans and Democrats alike have fortified their positions for legal battles to come. In doing so, the parties have left some anti-abortion Democrats and pro-abortion rights Republicans with internal conflict and confusion over where they belong.

Mary Ann Chimera, president of Democrats for Life of Ohio, feels other Democrats who oppose abortion are not represented in the party.

"They offer me no candidates I can vote for anymore," she said.

She cited change in the party's platform in 2016 as a reason she feels less like she belongs with the Democrats. The party added a provision to its platform that supported the repeal of the Hyde Amendment, which prevents federal money from being used to pay for abortions except in cases of rape, incest and endangerment of the pregnant woman's life.

Chimera said until that point, she and other anti-abortion Democrats were holding out hope they still could have some influence in the party and combat the growing influence of what she called "fringe" views.

"It was the hope that we could have a voice in the party," Chimera said. "We were giving people a leg up. They actually helped people to change society. It used to stand for the working people. Now it stands for the fringe."

While many in the anti-abortion movement would call anything in the pro-abortion rights realm "fringe," Democratic voters do not seem to think so.

A Pew Research Center survey from 2018 found that 61% of registered Democratic voters rated abortion as "very important" to their vote in the midterm election. This, coupled with 68% of Democrats identifying as "pro-choice" in a recent Gallup poll, creates an unfavorable electoral environment for an anti-abortion Democrat.

This is true in Ohio. In a Quinnipiac poll released in late July, 85% of Democrats supported legal abortion in all or most cases.

Jason Wilson, a Democrat from Northeast Ohio and former state senator who opposes abortion, said he was not necessarily accepted by more progressive voices on abortion during his time in the legislature.

"People respected my position," he said. "When a vote would come up, people knew where I stood. The problem came in with some of the more progressive wings of the Democratic Party saying that they didn't feel like I represented them. My response to that was, 'I represent my district.'"

Elected Ohio Democrats are increasingly in the progressive mold on abortion. NARAL Pro-Choice Ohio rates every member of the Ohio legislature based on their voting record on abortion-related legislation. No Democrat received less than a 75% rating on the most recent report card, and every House Democrat that cast an abortion-related vote received a 100% rating.

This has not seemed to help Democrats electorally in Ohio. Several seats in the state legislature representing areas of eastern Ohio that used to be Democratic are now held by Republicans.

Wilson attributes this, in part, to the state party following the national party's stance on abortion and other cultural issues. "I think there was a place in the party for the pro-life voice," he said. "But as the party became more oriented to national issues, it became impossible to be a conservative Democrat."

Kirstin Alvanitakis, communications director for the Ohio Democratic Party, said, "While the Democratic Party is a big-tent party with room for a wide variety of personal viewpoints, we are also clear that a central part of our platform, not to mention the U.S. Constitution, is that politicians should not insert themselves into the very personal and private decision of whether or not to have a child and become a parent."

Chimera disagrees with the notion of a "big-tent" party. "The big tent is shut tight," he said. "The platform needs to change to reflect our interest as well. It's about opening the big tent."

Republican Mike Gonidakis, president of Ohio Right to Life, agreed with that assessment, saying Democrats do not appreciate diversity of thought on a range of issues, including abortion.

"They bow at the altar of just one set of views, and that's part of the reason they're in a deep, deep minority in the state legislature right now," he said.

Republicans, however, do not seem to have diversity of thought on abortion, either. Similar to pro-life Democrats, Republicans who favor abortion rights seemingly have lost a home in their own party's "big tent." In the Gallup poll, only 21% of Republicans identified as "pro-choice," and the party's 2016 platform laid out strong opposition to abortion.

The Republican electorate is in step with the party in this respect. According to another 2018 Pew survey, nearly 60% of Republicans across the country think abortion should be illegal in all or most cases.

The Ohio landscape mirrors the national landscape. The Quinnipiac poll of Ohio voters released in late July showed nearly 70% of Republicans think abortion should be illegal in all or most cases.

This is further reflected in attitudes about Roe v. Wade, the decision that established a constitutional right to abortion, which just more than one-third of Ohio Republicans support.

There is not one Republican in the state legislature that supports abortion rights. This marks a change from around the turn of the century when Jo Ann Davidson, a pro-abortion rights Republican, served as speaker of the House of Representatives. Davidson and Betty Montgomery, a former Republican Ohio attorney general who also favors abortion rights, declined to comment.

Former Republican Gov. John Kasich signed a ban, now court-delayed, on the dilation and evacuation procedure at the end of his second term in December 2018. He still faced criticism, though, as he twice vetoed the so-called Heartbeat Bill, which current Gov. Mike DeWine signed into law April and which now is on hold in the courts.

The Ohio Republican Party declined comment on how it assesses or supports pro-abortion rights candidates.

The 2020 election is likely to continue the polarizing trend. Republican legislatures across the country have continued to limit abortion access and some Democratic candidates have talked about only nominating federal judges that will uphold Roe v. Wade.

Without at least some acknowledgement from the party, Chimera said, the Democrats will have to fight Trump without her assistance.

"We do exist," she said of anti-abortion Democrats. "If the Democrats are counting on our votes, they won't get them."

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