"Pro-Life" is the best branding in the history of branding. If you've screwed that up there's no where else to go.

"Am I out of touch? No. It's the voters who are wrong."

The first rule of pursuing abhorrent policies for performative reasons is, they need to stay performative. The GOP used to understand this, and carefully pursue anti-abortion policies while carefully not achieving them. But now there's too high a proportion of people who are such nutcases that they genuinely don't understand or don't care that this will lose them elections, and the strategic Republicans are struggling more and more to keep control of their party.

It used to be the same with "anti-immigration" policies that were surgically careful to preserve the vulnerable workforce while making the right type of performative gestures, until DeSantis came in being enough of a true believer that he's willing to damage Florida's economy pretty significantly as long as it lets him be cruel to spanish people.

The safeties are getting disabled, basically.

“Mark my word, if and when these preachers get control of the party, and they're sure trying to do so, it's going to be a terrible damn problem. Frankly, these people frighten me. Politics and governing demand compromise. But these Christians believe they are acting in the name of God, so they can't and won't compromise. I know, I've tried to deal with them.” -Barry Goldwater

How about “anti choice?”…? “Anti -women.” ?

Or maybe “theist zealots”?

“Asshole” seems too generic.

Many voters think [‘pro-life’] means you’re for no exceptions in favor of abortion ever

Remember that scene from The Boys where Stormfront said:

People love what I have to say, they just hate the word Nazi. That's all.

Now why would a party that bans abortion with no exceptions in many states, even to the point of banning abortions after a raped 10-year-old got one in a state because she couldn't get one in hers, not be thought of as "pro-life"?

There's a lot to unpack in this article, I encourage you all to actually read it. It sounds like a fundamental disconnect between Republican Congresspeople (who enact laws at the Federal level) and the State-level Republicans. These Senators supported overturning Roe specifically did it to "send the matter back to the States", and did not propose any law at the Federal level to replace it, only to find that those Republican states enacted extremely strict laws that are now affecting the Republican brand elsewhere. (Because of a simple reason: Republicans in those states really are that extreme!)

But, they're stuck with it now. Their messaging is tied to what actually happened in those states. And these Senators can say all they want that they wanted exceptions all along, but you know they will never make a Federal law that weakens the strict bans in those states. They would never win a primary after that. But the strict bans are not popular outside the statehouses where they were enacted.

As long as there are states like Texas, who aim to criminalize abortion to the point that they will be monitoring the roads going out-of-state for pregnant women to harass, there will be no chance to define the pro-life movement as anything else.

💀

“Pro forced birth” is much more accurate. If they were truly pro-life they would champion universal healthcare that included at the minimum abortions when the woman’s life is in danger and when the fetus couldn’t possibly survive.

"How can we trick the voters into thinking we're less shitty than we know we really are?"

You're not pro-baby unless you're for universal post-natal care.

Which they are not.

“Many voters think [‘pro-life’] means you’re for no exceptions in favor of abortion ever, ever”

But, that’s true… Every GOP state legislature has passed bills without exceptions.

So their argument is what exactly?

Forced Birth is more accurate

Yeah, they never were really into pro life, were they? It’s more about neo-slavery:

1. Ensure less fortunate people end up so overburdened with financial trouble that they desperately take a pittance from “job creators” with a smile.
2. Cult-of-personality the shit out of idiot billionaires so that people overlook their evils for moment-to-moment trivialities and hot takes.
3. Make up culture war bullshit to ensure the fighters end up just expending their angst on the other less fortunate people rather of those who actually manufacture their hardships.

I've seen "Anti-Choice" thrown around, I think it fits them pretty good

Yes the specific marketing term for it is what people aren't resonating with. That must be what is wrong.

The problem is, if they legit want to go "Pro-Baby" then they have to explain this:

https://www.ed.gov/news/press-releases/fact-sheet-house-republican-proposals-hurt-children-students-and-borrowers-and-undermine-education

But I guess nobody ever forced them to explain how they could be Pro-Life but also Pro-Death Penalty...

This feels like 10 years ago when people said gops have a presentation or communication problem. Fox was all like "people just aren't understanding what the republicans have to say" but the whole time is obvious that their message was clear, just fucking awful.

They're not pro-life; they're rape-prolongers.

They want to make sure that every rape can last at least nine months.

They have a marketing problem that they're trying to fix. They're not trying to fix their stance on abortion. It's the same shit, just trying to make it sound not as extreme.

Clearly it's the messaging that's the problem /s

Getting a win in the abortion case is probably the worst thing to happen to the GOP. They chased the car fruitlessly to get the crazies on board and the rest quietly tolerated it because they knew they would never actually catch the car.

Well. They have their jaws around the bumper now and no plan on how to let go without getting hit by the car behind them.

"Anti-Women"? Because that's what Republicans are...

Call it what it is, Anti-choice

Proof once again that Republicans don't stand for anything.

Anti-choice/women/freedom is a good option

"Freedom Fries!"

Oh wait. That ones already taken.

How does pro-fascism sound? For once in the history of modern republican party, it is also accurate.

"Facist"

It's got great brand penetration.

How about pro-birth, anti-woman, anti-choice, anti-healthcare?

Comcast becoming Xfinity didn't help their image as a shitty cable company, and I don't think changing from pro-life to something like pro-baby is going to help mask their abortion policies.

Anti-Women? Yeah, let's go with that.

Maybe they shouldn't have rebranded from "anti-abortion" to "pro-life" in the first place.