Well, Sean Hannity Sure Did Have an Abortion Takeaway From the Election

This is Totally Normal Quote of the Day, a new feature where we pull a particularly wild statement from the news as a reminder of just how extremely normal everything has become.

“Democrats are trying to scare women into thinking Republicans don’t want abortion legal under any circumstances.” —Sean Hannity, Tuesday

On Fox News Tuesday night, as the results from the elections were rolling in, the realization began to sink in that abortion really was a losing issue for Republicans.

The question of whether the public’s anger over abortion would continue to propel Democrats into office had been answered, as the party took control of both chambers of Virginia’s Legislature and Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear held on to the governor’s mansion in Kentucky. In Virginia, candidates ran against Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s abortion ban; in Kentucky, Beshear had criticized his challenger’s support for the state’s abortion ban. And to top it off, in Ohio, voters easily passed a ballot initiative proposing a constitutional amendment protecting abortion rights.

It was, ultimately, a worrying night for Republicans looking for signs ahead of the 2024 general election. And the pundits on Fox recognized the culprit.

“On the issue of abortion, in Ohio tonight, we continue the losing streak of the pro-life movement,” Kayleigh McEnany told Hannity. “As a party, Sean, we must—we must—not just be a pro-baby party. That’s a great thing. We must be a pro-mother party. We need a national strategy.”

Stephen Miller agreed. “Republicans need to learn to talk about abortion in a way that’s going to appeal to suburban voters, single mothers, married mothers, women across the political spectrum,” he said, citing the need to emphasize exceptions for rape, incest, and the life of the mother, as well as “the barbarism of late-term abortions.”

And Hannity, to the outraged disbelief of liberals who saw the clip circulate later, claimed that voters had been misled by scare tactics. This was, patently, revisionist history: After the reversal of Roe v. Wade, the country was swept by extreme abortion bills that left no room for rape, incest, or medical risks to the mother. There were countless stories of women who were forced into traumatic medical emergencies, or bereaved mothers who had to carry nonviable fetuses to term, or child rape victims who were forced into motherhood.

Tuesday night made for a shocking pivot in the Fox News narrative, as pundits had long argued that the public wanted the end of abortion. “I go back to Pennsylvania 2022—the Republican candidate for governor, if I remember correctly, ‘No exceptions for rape, incest, or the mother’s life,’ ” Hannity said, “and lost to a nonincumbent gubernatorial candidate, Democrat candidate, by a margin not seen since the 1940s.”

But after that acknowledgment, Hannity still fell short of fully understanding the public’s message. “So I have to believe that is an indication that women in America, suburban moms, want it, probably, legal and rare, and probably earlier than at the point of viability.”

It was an odd conclusion, given that Youngkin had supported an abortion ban with exceptions for rape, incest, and the life of the mother and still was walloped on Tuesday night, ending his grand dreams of a Republican takeover in the state.

It remains to be seen whether Republicans will fully recognize just how disastrous abortion bans have been for them—and if they’re able to convincingly pretend that they never really cared all that much about them in the first place.