Scoop: Hawleys launch dark money group to revive anti-abortion politics
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Sen. Josh Hawley. Photo: Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call via Getty Images
Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) and his wife, Erin Hawley, are launching a new dark money group to shine a spotlight on anti-abortion rights ballot measures and policies that benefit families.
Why it matters: After Roe vs. Wade was overturned in 2022, the Republican establishment quietly moved on from abortion rights politics. The Hawleys want to revive the issue.
- "We think that there needs to be a voice, strong voice, advocating for life, and not just in the narrow political sense," Sen. Hawley said in a phone interview, "but also advocating culturally."
Driving the news: The Hawleys, who started dating when they were Supreme Court clerks, are launching the Love Life Initiative this week.
- They plan to run national ad campaigns.
- "If you look at the reason that most women think they need to have an abortion, most of those reasons are lack of support," Erin Hawley, a senior counsel at Alliance Defending Freedom, said in an interview.
- She wants the focus to not just be on abortion, but also on policies providing broader support for families.
Zoom in: Expect the two Yale Law School grads to use their home state of Missouri as a proving ground for the new group.
- Next year, Missouri voters will be voting on a constitutional amendment that would restrict abortions and gender-affirming care for minors, though the wording has faced court challenges.
- But the Hawleys plan to get involved in other states' efforts, as well, though details are still being worked out.
One long-term goal: A Super Bowl ad "talking about family and life and reflecting what the poll shows — which is that this is the most important thing for the overwhelming majority of Americans," Sen. Hawley said.
- He pointed to new OnMessage polling for the group, which showed strong majorities saying family formation is "very important," agreeing that culture overly emphasizes careers over family life and supporting efforts to give pregnant women "better options than abortion."
Zoom out: After the Supreme Court's Dobbs decision in 2022, Republicans felt singed by voters, after finally achieving a win at the court they had been chasing for generations.
- Republicans endured losses on abortion rights ballot measures in red states, and many strategists blamed the abortion issue for the lack of a "red tsunami" in the 2022 midterms.
- Now, Sen. Hawley sees a vacuum in the anti-abortion rights movement. He has noticed "elected officials have been more and more reluctant to comment, to weigh in, to frankly, do much on the issue of life."
- He added, "That is not true of your everyday working person. ... I think, frankly, these folks are looking for someone to give their movement voice."
What to watch: Hawley has carved out a unique space in his party, and he is often speculated to be eyeing a 2028 presidential run.
- Some of his populist views have led him to work with progressive Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.). Yet he also maintains a good relationship with President Trump and is one of the most outspoken anti-abortion rights Republicans.
