In Iowa, Republican presidential candidates search for winning message on abortion policy

Republican presidential candidates, united in their desire to limit abortion access, are searching for the right way to talk about the issue and connect with pro-life Iowans as they navigate a post-Roe v. Wade world.

At a gathering of the Iowa Faith and Freedom Coalition Saturday in Des Moines, 10 GOP White House hopefuls presented numerous variations on the same theme, with some calling for federal restrictions, others for states’ rights and a few touting increased support for mothers and families.

“There is a debate within the party today, Ralph, and it’s an important debate,” former Vice President Mike Pence told Ralph Reed, the founder and chairman of the national Faith & Freedom Coalition who conducted several of the on-stage candidate interviews.

The candidates’ ability to speak convincingly on this issue could be key to their chances in Iowa’s first-in-the-nation caucuses where evangelicals show up in above-average proportions and can play a critical role in determining the outcome.

A substantial majority of Iowa’s likely Republican caucusgoers — 80% — identify as “pro-life,” according to an August Des Moines Register/NBC News/Mediacom Iowa Poll.

The poll also found that 54% of likely Republican caucusgoers said they would be more likely to favor a candidate who advocates for banning abortion nationwide after 15 weeks of pregnancy, with exceptions.

Kayla Pitts, a 37-year-old Cumming resident who attended the event Saturday, said the issue of abortion drives her vote “100%.”

"I will never vote for a candidate who is pro-choice. Ever," she said.

But she said she could go either way on the subject of whether there should be a federal law to address the issue.

"I see the argument on both sides," she said. "It does belong with the state. On the other hand, there’s a lot of states who have no regard for human life. And so having some kind of threshold that everyone on both sides could agree on to protect life in those states where people will not protect innocent life could be a good option."

Ten candidates on hand at Des Moines event, but no Donald Trump

The event drew roughly 1,200 people, according to organizers.

Presidential candidates on hand included Texas businessman and pastor Ryan Binkley, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, conservative radio host Larry Elder, former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley, former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson, former U.S. Rep. Will Hurd of Texas, businessman Perry Johnson, former Vice President Mike Pence, biotech entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy and U.S. Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina.

Former President Donald Trump, who currently leads polls of Iowa by substantial margins and is favored by evangelicals, did not attend. He is set to make appearances in northeastern Iowa this week.

Steve Scheffler, president of the Iowa Faith and Freedom Coalition, said Trump was invited, and his campaign staff did have a presence at the event. But he believes the former president should have come to address the crowd himself.

"I think if he's one of the candidates, he ought to be here engaging with groups like this, knowing that this is the single largest constituency within the Republican Party caucusgoers,” Scheffler said. “So I think it would have been helpful if he had been here."

In Trump’s absence, a few of the candidates took aim at the frontrunner.

“My former running mate and others who you’ll even hear from tonight have walked away from American leadership in the world,” Pence said in a pointed remark.

Pence has been a vocal supporter of a national ban on abortion at 15 weeks, while encouraging states to pass laws that go further, as Iowa has done. Iowa's "fetal heartbeat" law bans abortions at about six weeks, before most women know they're pregnant.

“Why would we leave unborn babies in California and Illinois and New York to the devices of liberal state legislatures and liberal governors?” Pence said. “We need to stand for the unborn all across America, and as your president, I promise you’ll have a champion for life in the Oval Office.”

Hutchinson called restricting abortion "a matter of conviction," and pointed to a recent interview in which the former president said he wanted to be a mediator between "both sides" of the abortion issue.

“I think they’re all going to like me,” Trump said.

Though Hutchinson didn’t immediately identify who he was referencing, Reed, who was conducting the interview, clarified that it was Trump who made the comments.

"Both sides aren't going to like you," Hutchinson continued. "This is going to be a fight for life, and we've been doing that for 40 years. You take a stand. You state your position."

Candidates differ on question of federal ban, states’ rights

Hutchinson said the Dobbs decision, which overturned Roe v. Wade, returns the issue of setting abortion policy “to our elected representatives,” not just the states.

“And so if our members of Congress can reach a consensus and pass a life bill that has reasonable exceptions to it that we all agree upon, I will sign that as a pro-life president,” he said.

But Elder said although he believes life starts at conception, he thinks the federal government should stay away from setting further limits.

“One of the reasons I believe we did so poorly in the midterms is because the pro-abortion side was able to say to people, this now means that there'll be a law passed at the federal level to outlaw abortion,” he said.

Scott said Republicans should do more to fund and support adoption organizations and crisis pregnancy centers, and he said he would redesign the tax code to support pregnant women.

“One of the things I'd like to do is help provide tax benefits once a woman gets pregnant,” he said. “Because we should be pro-life from the moment of conception until the birth and then beyond as well.”

Haley tried to take a more nuanced approach to the issue. She said her goal is to support moms, save as many babies as possible and continue to “humanize” the issue.

“The way we do that is to bring people together,” she said. “Can’t we all agree that we should ban late term abortions? Can't we all agree that we should encourage adoptions and good quality adoptions? Can't we all agree that doctors and nurses who don't believe in abortions shouldn't perform them?”

DeSantis touted the six-week abortion ban he signed into law in Florida, which is very similar to the law Gov. Kim Reynolds signed in Iowa.

“I think the states have done a better job thus far,” he said. “Congress has really struggled to make a meaningful impact over the years. As president, I'm going to welcome pro-life policies across the board, you know, at both levels.”

Trump, on NBC's "Meet The Press" Sunday, called the six-week ban DeSantis signed "a terrible mistake."

“I think what he did is a terrible thing and a terrible mistake,” Trump said.

He dodged the question of whether he would support a federal ban, although he said from a "legal standpoint" abortion would be better handled at a state level.

Iowa Attorney General Brenna Bird, who conducted several of the on-stage interviews, said afterward she thought the candidates answered the questions about life and abortion well. She said much of the debate for the party is over whether the issue should be addressed at the state or federal level.

"People are talking about that and learning more about it and understanding where the candidates are coming from," she said. “So I think that will factor into how people vote in the caucuses. I think people have been pretty thoughtful about the issue."

Scheffler said that abortion policy is important to the voters who attended Saturday’s event, but they are all approaching the decision about who to support in the caucuses differently.

"There's room for debate in the Republican Party, whether you're looking for a national ban, are you looking at it state by state? We'll see,” he said. “Of course, I don't think that's the only issue that people in this room are concerned about. This group is not monolithic."

He said evangelical Republicans are also interested in hearing from candidates on issues such as immigration, election security, the courts and the economy.

Iowa Republicans respond to candidates

Jim Handsaker, a 75-year-old farmer from Story City, said he likes the law that Iowa passed this year and he thinks all the presidential candidates are going in the right direction with their abortion proposals.

"They’re all going in the same direction, it’s just different roads to get there," he said. "I’m comfortable the direction it’s going. You’re not going to get everything you want to begin with."

Handsaker, who wore a "Team Trump" sticker and said he's supporting the former president, called Trump the "most pro-life president we've had."

"So I think he would continue on that path," he said.

Trump appointed three conservative justices to the U.S. Supreme Court, paving the way for the overturn of Roe v. Wade, the landmark case that found Americans have a constitutional right to abortions. But he has spoken out against a national abortion ban.

Zachary Gott, 27, of Des Moines, said he appreciated Haley’s stance on abortion and the need to humanize the issue. Gott told the Register that the conservative perspective is often seen in a “negative” light — that “we’re kind of just demonizing each other.”

He also said he was impressed by Hutchinson and Ramaswamy, especially with the latter's plans to break apart federal agencies such as the FBI.

John Madison, a 69-year-old retired IT worker from Johnston, is undecided in the presidential race.

"I’m a Bible-believing person that life begins at conception," he said. "I like what Haley said, though, because if you’re trying to shove things down people’s throats then maybe it doesn’t work. Her goal was to try to get as many babies saved as possible."

Madison said he doesn't know if he'd like to see a federal law on abortion because he doesn't want to see a situation where a law is passed and then struck down in the courts.

"That’s why I liked her thoughts about that because she’s saying we could throw all this out there and then it just doesn’t work," he said. "But if people come together, you can try to, like she says, have people run to you instead of run from you. I mean I think we’ve got a lot more chance of getting things done successfully."

Brianne Pfannenstiel is the chief politics reporter for the Register. Reach her at bpfann@dmreg.com or 515-284-8244. Follow her on Twitter at @brianneDMR.

This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Iowa Caucuses 2024: GOP candidates divided on federal abortion bans