As we hit the homestretch of the 2024 election, we’re witnessing significant changes to the demographics of the Democratic and Republican coalitions. Political scientists call this “realignment” and we haven’t seen one this big in a generation. Just this last week, a new report came showing that for the first time ever, registered Republicans outnumber registered Democrats nationwide.
That expanding tent creates a more favorable electoral map for the GOP, but it also creates some difficult realities for constituencies that have long formed foundational blocs in the GOP.
One such group is the pro-life movement that has anchored the social conservative vote in the GOP for the last 50-plus years. This year, however, it’s different. As public opinion has shifted on abortion and pro-life sponsored legislation on abortion failed in battleground states (and even some red ones), the GOP platform for 2024 followed the lead of Donald Trump and visibly distanced itself from the pro-life position.
In this interview, I sat down to chat with Baylor University’s Matthew Lee Anderson and unpack a recent article he wrote for The Dispatch on the future of the pro-life movement. We discuss the shifting political realities that appear to have put the pro-life movement on its back foot, before delving into how the pro-life movement can use this time of being in the proverbial “political wilderness” to hone its outreach and messaging to the broader American culture.
Digging deeper
The article we discussed today: “Pro-Lifers’ Political Irrelevance May be Good for the Moment”
The last word
Whatever happens in November, the pro-life movement will need to reset its political calculus and reach a level of maturity it has not yet attained. The wilderness, after all, is a place of exile and testing—but it is also a place of growth.
- Matthew Lee Anderson
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