AG Report 4.16.2024
Kari Lake Throws Pro-Life Movement Under Bus in Desperate Flip for Votes
Republicans running in purple states face a dilemma when it comes to messaging on the issue of abortion. Many otherwise independent voters feel that some Republican states went too far after the Dobbs decision and Republicans have mostly failed to convince those voters to shift in their direction on the issue. But that doesn’t change that an overwhelming majority of Americans do support, with certain exemptions, restrictions on abortions past the first trimester.
Several good pro-life politicians did well in 2022 by finding a balance and selling voters on incremental compromise, but Kari Lake was not one of them. During her 2022 run, Lake explicitly endorsed an Arizona law that would essentially make abortion illegal in Arizona except in cases where the mother’s life is in danger.
Well, last week the Arizona Supreme Court ruled that the very law Lake praised can be enforced, superseding the state’s current 15-week abortion limit. That puts Lake, now in a heated race for the U.S. Senate, in a tough position. It’s understandable why Lake would shift her position and try to appear more open to compromise on the issue in hopes of winning more hesitant voters. But that’s not what she did. Instead, she released a video in which she fully embraced the Democrat position on abortion and the talking points to go with it.
In the video, Lake declares that abortion is a “personal and private issue” and that while she chose life, she wants to “make sure that every woman that finds herself pregnant has more choices.” Those sentences could easily have come from Nancy Pelosi, Hillary Clinton, or Kamala Harris. They are standard Democrat talking points for arguing against legal restrictions on abortion. That’s not moderating or finding compromise, it’s simply abandoning the pro-life position and adopting the talking points of the opposition. Doing this is not just wrong and cynical, it’s also political malpractice.
Lake is a weak candidate who previously alienated independents, so her electoral strategy for the Senate was heavily dependent on Sinema running and the Democrat vote being split. As that isn’t happening, she’s now desperately looking for ways to win over those same independents. Someone convinced her that one way to do that is to throw the pro-life movement under the bus, but voters don’t respond to clearly fake conversions.
Lake’s shift is so dramatic and insincere, that it’s unlikely to make a difference with pro-choice voters. However, it is likely to convince many pro-life voters that Lake, who was a Democrat until a few cycles ago, can’t be trusted.
….