Kellyanne Conway Optimistic About GOP Winning Over Women in 2024 by Offering Contraception After Abortion Restrictions

Written by Bess Levin

Public sentiment around the Republican Party's efforts to overrule reproductive rights, following their celebration of the repeal of Roe v. Wade, has been largely negative. Instead of the expected "red wave" in the 2022 midterm elections, the Democratic Party gained a Senate seat while the Republican Party just managed to regain control of the House. For many voters in key states, abortion was a pivotal issue. Reproductive rights gained further ground with the cementing of the right to an abortion in the Ohio constitution, the reelection of pro-choice governor Andy Beshear in Kentucky, and the acquisition of the Virginia state legislature by the Democrats, stopping the GOP governor from imposing any abortion restrictions. The American people's desire for abortion rights is clear.

Looking at the impending 2024 election, GOP strategist and former Trump adviser Kellyanne Conway suggests that Republicans running for higher office should adopt a campaign motto along the lines of "Granted, we've curtailed your reproductive rights, but we've spared your access to birth control – so that's something!"

According to Politico, Conway proposes that Republicans place less emphasis on abortion restrictions and instead openly advocate for birth control access, in the hopes that voters will be appreciative of and too ignorant to notice what's missing. Conway was quoted saying, “[Joe] Biden and [Kamala] Harris are losing support among young voters, who could be swayed by the topic [contraception], especially given their reproductive prime.” Meanwhile, Heather Higgins, CEO of Independent Women’s Voice, used an odd analogy to comment on the situation, suggesting that the GOP needed to better communicate its concern for issues that matter to their constituents.

Both Conway and Higgins refer to polls indicating that over 80% of both independent and pro-life voters believe that women should have access to the latest, most effective contraception methods of their choice. Regardless of this, American support for legal abortion rights isn't being emphasized in GOP messaging. The duo also seem to ignore the fact that only eight House GOP members voted for the Right to Contraception Act in 2022, indicating a lack of real commitment to contraception access and contradicting the message they want to convey to voters.

In a conversation with The Daily Beast, the Republican senator Lisa Murkowski, a rare supporter of contraception and abortion access in her party, expressed doubts about this strategy. Murkowski questioned whether focusing on contraception would enhance the GOP's standing with women on the issue of abortion, stating that it remains to be seen. Meanwhile, Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee spokesperson, Nebeyatt Betre, declared that the strategy was doomed to fail, as no amount of positive messaging could conceal the past legislative efforts by House Republicans to limit both abortion and contraception access, infringing upon women's reproductive freedoms.