Amidst all of the pieces discussing the far worse than expected midterm performance by Republicans, I came across this shocking piece from Vox. While not the main thrust of the article, it is very revealing (boldface mine):

When he was campaigning for governor of Minnesota, Scott Jensen first said he’d ban abortions with no exceptions for rape and incest. Later, he said the governor couldn’t do anything about abortion anyway, given Minnesota’s constitutional protections. Last weekend, in a 22-minute Facebook Live video reflecting on his bruising loss, he made a new argument.

“This election was not about inflation, and crime and education…for so many Americans across the country this election was about an intrusion into a person’s autonomy,” he said, referring to abortion. “In the future I think the lesson is clear — at least it should be to Republicans. If you infringe on someone’s freedom, you may well lose. You’ll probably lose.”

The 67-year-old politician and physician announced his support for birth control over the counter, and morning-after pills in every medicine cabinet. “The pro-life movement should not be about trying to determine what the sexual mores or behaviors are of an American country,” he said.

For those who don’t follow the anti-abortionists, they view morning-after pills as abortion–and birth control too.

While I do think many Republican politicians and their operatives are true believers, or at least are in the camp of ‘abortion is slutty but should be allowed, provided we can call them sluts’, I can’t help but think there are quite a few professional Republicans who are secretly pro-choice. That they knuckle under to white Christian supremacists is both shameful and unsurprising. Perhaps a stinging defeat will change some of their minds in private, but I still don’t see how they can fix this, given the composition of the Republican primary electorate.

As I’ve said before, the intraparty fights in the Republican Party, especially in places where their attempts to enshrine minoritarian rule have failed, are going to be entertaining, to say the least.