3. The “I get it, now” path.
Some Republicans are belatedly realizing the unintended consequences of abortion restrictions in some states. This doesn’t mean they’ll be switching sides and winning endorsements from Planned Parenthood or EMILY’s List, but it does suggest that at least some Republicans are feeling the pressure to adjust to the new political realities.
In a now-viral video, Neal Collins, a Republican state representative in South Carolina, expressed regret for supporting the fetal heartbeat law enacted by the state last year. Collins said that one of his constituents, a doctor, told him about how it is impacting women. Until that call, Rep. Collins apparently never considered the effect of his vote—probably because, before Dobbs, these sorts of exercises were less about legislating and more often about trying to keep the base happy or get a case before the high court.
Other disturbing post-Dobbs stories are popping up all over. In Louisiana, a woman named Nancy Davis is pregnant with a child that unfortunately has a rare condition that prevents a skull from becoming fully formed. The child cannot survive outside of the womb. The state’s trigger laws caused abortion clinics to close, and hospitals, wary of the wording of the law, have refused to provide Davis with an abortion. She delivered a devastating line: “Basically, they said I had to carry my baby to bury my baby.”
Pro-life legislators in Louisiana contend that the law does provide for an exception, and that Davis can have an abortion. But what happens if no hospital will do it?
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