Pro-life Stalwarts Frustrated With Speaker Johnson

Pro-life stalwarts in the U.S. House and influential outside groups are becoming increasingly frustrated in their attempts to restrict abortion access.

With the annual March for Life rally in Washington, D.C., set for Friday, Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., is drawing the ire of conservatives for failing to push restrictive policies added to nearly every spending bill.

The Senate on Thursday aims to approve a stopgap measure keeping the federal government funded through early March, averting a partial shutdown that would begin in less than two days if Congress fails to act.

Johnson on Friday said he's committed to the topline spending deal he struck with Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., turning back pushes by conservatives to walk away from the pact.

Johnson, moderates, and swing-district lawmakers within the GOP conference take the position that a Democrat-led U.S. Senate and President Joe Biden will not bend on abortion policies.

"I don't think any of this stuff passes without bipartisan support," Rep. Kelly Armstrong, R-N.D., Politico reported. "It's not surviving 60 votes in the Senate. It's just not."

GOP hardliners want the speaker to play hardball with Democrats.

Rep. Bob Good, R-Va., chair of the House Freedom Caucus, warned "the majority of the Republican conference" will be "disappointed and upset" if Johnson doesn't do more to fight for pro-life policy riders.

"You're not going to get everything that you want when you have divided government," Good said, Politico reported. "But the House majority ought to count for something. We should get at least half of what we want, shouldn't we?"

Johnson and his allies argue that the speaker's budget deal with Democrats buys time for Republicans to push for pro-life policies in the coming weeks.

"The speaker has put us in a position to at least be able to negotiate," said Rep. Mario Díaz-Balart, R-Fla., who chairs the State and Foreign Operations subcommittee of the Appropriations Committee, Politico reported. "A shutdown will do nothing except waste money and destroy our ability to get conservative wins."

Conservatives, though, saw the government funding fight as their best chance to pull back Biden administration policies expanding access to abortion.

Proposals included measures to ban mail delivery of abortion pills, block the military from funding service members' travel across state lines for an abortion, and ban state Medicaid programs from covering abortion, Politico reported.

Outside pro-life groups also are frustrated with the House GOP leadership.

"I understand the numbers," said Tom McClusky, a pro-life lobbyist with the organization Catholic Vote, Politico reported. "But what I don't understand is that there just doesn't even seem to be a fight. It doesn't even seem to be a factor with House leadership."

Many political pundits have said abortion will be a key issue in the 2024 presidential election.

Former President Donald Trump, the clear front-runner for the Republican nomination, last week said he was "proud" to have nominated Supreme Court justices who helped overturn the Roe v. Wade decision, which had made abortion lawful throughout the country.

Shortly thereafter, Biden reposted his campaign's post with the remark, "Just like he said: he did it."

Johnson, who became speaker in October after the ouster of Rep. Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., is a longtime abortion opponent. At the time he took control of the House, conservatives said they trusted him to deliver pro-life wins unachievable under his predecessor.

Reuters contributed to this story.