Ann Coulter warns GOP to “bind and gag pro-life militants”

Conservative pundit Ann Coulter is warning Republicans that they must “bind and gag” anti-abortion crusaders or face political oblivion.

Coulter urged Republicans to strategically tone down “ideological zealotry” concerning abortion in the name of winning elections, while also describing herself as “an anti-abortion zealot” in a Wednesday Substack post titled “The New Baby-Killers: Pro-Lifers and the Republican Assisted Suicide Act.”

“I’m begging [Republicans] to stop pushing wildly unpopular ideas,” Coulter wrote. “These fanatics are going to get millions more babies killed when Democrats win supermajorities in both houses of Congress and immediately pass a federal law making abortion-on-demand the law of the land.

“If we don’t bind and gag these pro-life militants, in about two more election cycles, we’ll have no Republicans in office anywhere,” she continued. “This is our ‘DEFUND THE POLICE’ faction—people whose ideological zealotry outruns their rationality.”

Polls have consistently shown that a majority of Americans support legal abortion. Regardless of that reality, Republican lawmakers have rushed to push abortion bans and restrictions through state legislatures in the aftermath of the Supreme Court overturning Roe v. Wade last year.

Fervent anti-abortion rhetoric likely contributed to a number of GOP candidates losing high-profile contests in last year’s midterm elections, with abortion-rights supporters having been motivated to cast their ballots for Democratic candidates instead.

Coulter suggested that losing Republican gubernatorial campaigns by anti-abortion candidates Tudor Dixon and Doug Mastriano, as well as a number of failed state ballot initiatives from anti-abortion lawmakers, were evidence that forcing the issue would “get a lot more babies killed.”

Coulter has repeatedly warned her fellow conservatives that the push for restrictions on abortion is a losing issue for the GOP. Last week, she suggested a ban on the procedure “for registered Republicans only.”

In addition to lost votes, the GOP’s hardline stance against abortion and obsession with other so-called “culture war” issues also appear to be costing the party campaign contributions from previously loyal Republican donors.

This month, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis‘ decision to sign a six-week abortion ban prompted billionaire GOP donor Thomas Peterffy to say that he and “a bunch of friends” were withholding donations due to the governor’s “stance on abortion and book banning.”

On Wednesday, Reuters reported that tech billionaire Peter Thiel, one of former President Donald Trump‘s earliest and most significant campaign donors, had decided to refrain from making any political donations during the 2024 election cycle due to the GOP’s fixation on issues like abortion and transgender bathroom bans.

Newsweek has reached out via email to the Republican National Committee for comment.