Fox News Hosts Lament 'Losing Streak' on Abortion

Fox News hosts have bemoaned Ohio voters approving a constitutional amendment ensuring access to abortion and other forms of reproductive healthcare.

On Tuesday Ohio became the seventh state in which voters decided to protect abortion access since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade last year. Statewide initiatives in California, Kansas, Kentucky, Michigan, Montana and Vermont have either affirmed abortion access or rejected attempts to undermine the right.

Ohio's constitutional amendment, on the ballot as Issue 1, specifically declared an individual's right to "make and carry out one's own reproductive decisions," including birth control, fertility treatments and abortion. It allowed the state to regulate the procedure after fetal viability, as long as exceptions were provided for cases in which a doctor determined the life or health of the woman was at risk.

The vote will almost certainly undo a 2019 state law passed by Republicans that bans most abortions after fetal cardiac activity is detected, with no exceptions for rape and incest. The law is on hold due to court challenges.

On Fox News Tuesday night, Kayleigh McEnany said the vote continued "the losing streak in the pro-life movement."

McEnany added: "Every ballot initiative has been lost post-Dobbs for the pro-life movement."

The Republican Party, she said, needs to "not just be a pro-baby party.... We must be a pro-mother party."

She added that the GOP needs a national strategy "to help vulnerable women because the results of next year's election could be determined by that."

Sean Hannity noted that the issue of abortion would be decided at the state level, not in Congress.

"If we're really gonna honest about this, and I consider myself pro-life, but I understand that's not where the country is," he said. "I would say first trimester, or Dobbs, 15 weeks seems to be where the country is."

McEnany went on to say that Republicans must "expose the extremity of the left" as well as pass legislation to help women.

"I want the House of Representatives passing legislation for men to pay women child support from the moment of conception, legislation to make the Child Tax Credit apply to the unborn legislation to have women have access to the supplemental food and nutrition program up to two years after childbirth," she said.

"These are things that can be done today that will make a difference. But until we own this issue as a party, we will lose again and again and again."

Ohioans United for Reproductive Rights, which led support for the amendment, said the people of Ohio "voted to restore their reproductive rights and reclaim their freedom to make their most personal decisions."

In a statement posted on X, formerly Twitter, the group wrote: "We know Ohioans overwhelmingly support reproductive freedom and abortion rights – and we know the majority of Americans support it, too. This victory should serve as a clear warning to other extremists who want to pass dangerous abortion bans across the country."

Thomas Gift, the founding director of the Centre on U.S. Politics at University College London, previously told Newsweek that most Republicans are well aware of "the electoral consequences of the abortion issue, especially after last year's midterms."

Gift said: "They know that, save for a few right-wing districts, hugely restricting access to reproductive rights will hurt them at the polls. But for many, it's more about principles than squeezing out every last vote.

"Still, the more the extreme fringes of the GOP dominate the abortion debate, the more that even moderate voices in the party will suffer in 2024. Most Americans have nuanced views on abortion, but the vast majority are wary of full-scale bans, especially when it involves rape, incest, and a mother's health."