Republicans are trying a new approach to abortion in the race for Congress

WASHINGTON (AP) —

In the most contested races for control of the U.S. House, many Republican candidates are speaking up about women’s rights to abortion access and reproductive care in new and surprising ways, a deliberate shift for a GOP blindsided by some political ramifications of the post-Roe v. Wade era.

Looking directly into the camera for ads, or penning personal op-eds in local newspapers, the Republicans are trying to distance themselves from some of the more aggressive anti-abortion ideas coming from their party and its allies. Instead the Republican candidates are working quickly to spell out their own views separate from a GOP that for decades has worked to put restrictions on reproductive care.

In New York, endangered GOP Rep. Mark Lawler, sitting at a kitchen table with his wife in one ad said, “There can be no place for extremism in women’s health care.”

In California, GOP Rep. Michelle Steel explains her own journey to parenthood with in vitro fertilization and vows, “I have always supported women’s access to IVF, and will fight to defend it.”

And in Arizona, GOP Rep. Juan Ciscomani faces the camera and says, “I want you to hear directly from me: I trust women. I cherish new life. And I reject the extremes on abortion.”

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