Republicans close to their goal of reversing the decision to abort Roe v. Wade. Reaching this could turn against

WASHINGTON – Republicans are closer than ever to getting a majority in the US Supreme Court to overturn the Roe v. Wade on abortion rights, but getting there carries a hidden risk for the party.

Throwing the deciding vote against Roe could rally the majority of Americans who support legal abortion to run for Democrats in the November elections, where Republicans are trying to keep control of the House and Senate.

"Now they are the dog caught the car," said Joshua Wilson, a political scientist at the University of Denver and author of the 2016 book The New States of Abortion Policy . "Here's an opportunity to do what anti-abortion advocates have wanted to do for decades – and it's really risky because their base really wants it but not the majority of Americans. Democratic voters. "

US President Donald Trump announced Friday that he would announce his candidate to replace Judge Anthony Kennedy who would retire on July 9, and he has restricted the search to about five finalists, including two women.

For three decades, Republicans have successfully used the issue of abortion. mobilize the religious right, whose support has been critical in Trump's election in 2016. The president – who promised in 2016 to choose judges who would overthrow Roe – has a historic opportunity to change the Ideological balance of the court with a more conservative candidate. But Trump can keep in mind wider public opinion, before an election where a surge of enthusiasm among women endangers his party's grip on Congress.

A poll released Friday by the non-partisan Kaiser Family Foundation addressed the issue. of Roe more clearly in the context of the battle of the Supreme Court. Only 29 percent of Americans said they wanted to overthrow Roe, while 67 percent said they would not, including 81 percent of Democrats, 73 percent of Independents and 43 percent of Republicans.

The president told reporters Friday that when he will interview potential candidates, he will not ask any questions about Roe. "They are usually conservative," he said. "I will not ask them that question, by the way."

White House legislative director Marc Short and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, a Republican from Kentucky, said they hoped to confirm a new justice in time for the Supreme. Next session of the Court, which begins on the first Monday of October

If Trump appoints anyone whose views on abortion are not publicly known, Senators are certain to ask even if if Supreme Court candidates are trained not to answer

"It all boils down to abortion and Roe v. Wade. And it's ridiculous, but it's like that," said Sen. Orrin Hatch, a Republican from Utah and former chairman of the Judiciary Committee. "I would like to see him overthrown but I've always been like that. I think it's one of the worst decisions ever made by the court. "

Republicans have a 51-49 majority in the Senate, which will decide whether to confirm the president's candidate." Republican John McCain of Arizona is absent while he's fighting cancer Several Democrats have supported restrictions on abortion, while several Republicans have said that they support Roe.

A candidate who has shown hostility to the rights of abortion could alienate pro-choice Republican Senators such as Susan Collins of Maine and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska.The two have been open to supporting conservative candidates thinking they have anti-abortion tendencies if they respect the precedent of the Supreme Court

"I would not support a candidate who has shown hostility to Roe v. Wade, because that would mean me that their judicial philosophy did not include respect for established decisions, "Collins told CNN's Jake Tapper on" The State of the Union "on Sunday. She did not rule out supporting a candidate suspected of having anti-abortion opinions.

Senator GOP Shelley Moore Capito of West Virginia has already supported Roe. A collaborator told a West Virginia newspaper in 2014 that she "would not vote to overthrow Roe," though Capito refused to say whether she continued to support Roe when asked last week

. "The last time that reproductive rights advocates really managed to hit that note of" Roe is in danger "was after Casey and with the election of Bill Clinton," Wilson said. , referring to the 1992 decision which reaffirmed Roe. The same could happen when the court takes a case involving an abortion, he said.

Some Republican Senators publicly support the overthrow of Roe

"I am pro-life, so I think it's a good goal – you're pro-life," Joni Ernst said. Iowa in an interview. Pat Toomey, of Pennsylvania, said that Roe is "a very bad case law" and "a clear example of a court that imposes its political views and makes them do it all".

Other Republicans are less comfortable with this issue. Deb Flischer of Nebraska and Jeff Flake of Arizona have refused to say they would like Roe to be overthrown.

"I want to see a candidate who will interpret the law and not legislate from the bench," said Flake. sound the alarm. "Roe v. Wade will be overthrown," read the subject line of a fundraising e-mail Thursday by Mbadachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren. The point is that "Roe v. Wade be overthrown, "writes Jeff Merkley of Oregon in an email to supporters.

Second-row Senate Democrat, Dick Durbin, of Illinois, said he would like to hear a Trump pledge. nominee would respect the previous Roe. California's Kamala Harris said it would be crucial in her vote. "I can not vote for someone who is not going to defend a woman's right to choose," she said in an interview. "It's a fundamental right."

Senator Joe Manchin, a West Virginia Democrat who describes himself as "pro life," told WV MetroNews on Friday that a candidate openly seeking to defeat Roe would raise "red flags for all Americans". that Trump should "make sure that a jurist looks at the law – Roe v. Wade has been the law for 40 years."

Manchin is among the three Democrats who voted for Trump's first choice, Judge Neil Gorsuch, in 2017. He joined the other two, Heidi Heitkamp of North Dakota and Joe Donnelly of Indiana, during a meeting with Trump on the Thursday evening when the court was discussed, according to several people who attended.