Why Making Abortion A State Issue Would Be A Political Disaster

On Tuesday, I discussed my opinion on the issue of abortion in response to the recent Supreme Court draft opinion that would overturn both Roe v. Wade and Planned Parenthood v. Casey and therefore make abortion entirely decided by the states. However, it should be noted that even many in the anti-abortion movement do not want abortion to simply be returned to the states, they want it to be banned federally. On 5/3/2022, the day after the Alito opinion was leaked, Matt Walsh wrote on Twitter:

Overturning Roe would be a monumental victory for human rights, but it’s only the first step. Next, abortion must be criminalized nationwide. The baby killers must not be given any safe harbor, anywhere to hide.

Some in the anti-abortion movement have long made it clear that a federal ban was their goal. While running for President in 2007, former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee said that he would attempt to ban abortion nationwide as President, saying:

If morality is the point here, and if it’s right or wrong, not just a political question, then you can’t have 50 different versions of what’s right and what’s wrong.

Anti-abortion politicians have also tried numerous times to introduce “right to life” amendments to the constitution that would ban abortion nationwide. To put…