Rep. Nancy Mace, R-S.C., told Newsmax on Monday that if GOP 2024 presidential candidate and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis pledges to enact a national six-week abortion ban if elected president, it would "alienate" many voters and could allow the Democrats to win the White House.
"It doesn't matter if you can win the primary. Can you win the general election, can you win the presidency, can you win in 2024," Mace said during "Rob Schmitt Tonight" on Monday. "You can be pro-woman and pro-life, they are not mutually exclusive. That's what I hear from [former President] Donald Trump versus someone who wants to have an extreme position, someone who alienates independent voters, women, suburban mom voters. Those are the voters we need in the general election."
While DeSantis signed a six-week abortion ban in Florida, Trump said in a recent Newsmax interview that he is open to discussing a 12–15-week ban, which would be a more moderate position, by talking with people on both sides of the issue and coming to a consensus.
"There are a lot of people who like that [time frame]," Trump told Newsmax. "[DeSantis] is losing a lot of women [voters] like crazy. I don't do it for the women, for the men, I do what is right."
Mace said that she is a pro-life conservative but believes that women should have a choice and exceptions early on, and not have the "heavy hand of government" coming in to interfere with that choice.
She said that conservatives can do two things at once by not only protecting the lives of the unborn by limiting abortions, but also by seriously discussing the responsibilities of men involved in the pregnancies, reforming the foster care system so it could be an alternative, and making sure women and men have access to reliable birth control to prevent unwanted pregnancies.
"I agree with Donald Trump on his position on abortion," she said. "He said leave it up to the states or negotiate, get everybody in the room together."
Mace said the world is different now since 1973's Roe v. Wade Supreme Court ruling legalized abortion nationwide and was then overturned by the high court last year, sending the issue back to the individual states.
"It is an important issue," she said. "We lost many seats that we could have won [in the 2022 midterms], and I believe it will be an important issue in 2024."
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