MILWAUKEE – After years of calling for federal restrictions on abortion, Republicans adopted a party platform this week at their national convention that reflects a shift toward former President Donald Trump’s latest stance on the issue: states should decide.
“It should be up to the state,” Cindy Spray, a delegate from Florida, said. “It should have never been at the national level.”
Support among Americans for abortion access has risen in the two years since the Supreme Court’s landmark Roe v. Wade ruling was overturned. In a poll from PBS News/NPR/Marist last year, 61 percent of Americans said they generally supported abortion rights , including about a third of Republicans.
In the last two years, 14 states have adopted abortion bans, and half a dozen more set early limits on the procedure, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation . The conversation around limiting abortion has expanded to in vitro fertilization and contraception. Senate Republicans last month blocked a bill from Democrats to protect IVF nationwide.
The issue is more nuanced for delegates who spoke to PBS News at this week’s Republican National Convention.
Debbie McCord, a delegate from Georgia, said access to contraception should not be so limited.
“Abortion is not contraception. It’s not birth control,” she said. “I feel like contraceptive medications, pills – whatever you call it – should be more easily available to women so that they don’t get caught in that position.”
READ MORE: Which states could have abortion rights on the ballot in November?
More than 6 in 10 Americans support protecting access to IVF , according to an AP-NORC poll this month.
“I don’t see how IVF is bad, and I don’t really understand the arguments against it,” Thomas Fugate, a Texas delegate, said. “I think IVF is a good thing. I think it’s pro-life and I don’t think it should be touched.”
Some Republicans and conservative activists have advocated for a national abortion ban, including GOP vice-presidential nominee JD Vance. Two years ago, Vance said he “certainly would like abortion to be illegal nationally.”
Yet, delegates expressed skepticism that the country is ready for something like that.
“This has been such a divisive issue for the country that it’s best to start resolving it [at the state level],” Kay Rendleman, a Colorado delegate, said. “And then, if there’s an overwhelming agreement among the states of where we ought to be, then we might want to look at a national [ban].”
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