Another groaned when asked about the subject: “Oh, God, you’re gonna make me talk about abortion, aren’t you?”

Every indication is that abortion is still a toxic subject for Republicans — and likely will be again in 2024. Democrats are galvanized, riding high off polling that shows opposition to stringent abortion bans and elections in battleground states like Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. Republicans, meanwhile, are on the defensive. And virtually everyone supporting some type of abortion ban agrees the GOP needs to fix its messaging.

But with the exception of the most conservative-leaning audiences – such as at the Faith & Freedom Coalition, which held its annual conference this weekend in Washington, D.C. — Republican presidential candidates are calculating that the best response may be to dodge the specifics.

Trump, despite heavy lobbying from anti-abortion rights activists for a 15-week ban, has kept his answers vague when asked whether he would support a federal prohibition. DeSantis, the leading alternative to Trump, makes little mention of a six-week measure that he signed into law in Florida – late at night, with no fanfare. South Carolina’s Nikki Haley delivered a campaign speech calling for national consensus on abortion without offering details on how to achieve that consensus. Scott, the U.S. senator and devout Christian from South Carolina, initially deflected questions before settling on supporting a 15-week ban. And Chris Christie, the former New Jersey governor, avoided taking a stance on a national abortion ban during a recent CNN town hall, arguing state governments should set their own policies.

Only former Vice President Mike Pence seems to embrace the subject by calling for a federal ban — a virtual imperative in his push to lure the evangelical bloc in the early voting state of Iowa.

“We have to go back to the basics, explaining to people the humanity of the unborn child,” Stemberger said. “The left has rather effectively pivoted this issue as the right of a woman against the interference of government.”

Anti-abortion activists have, at times, expressed frustration with the state of the field. They say they are getting little help from the top-of-the-ticket Republican White House contenders whose messaging will define the party in 2024. As the crowded campaign for the Republican nomination heats up, one candidate after the other has revealed unease with the subject of abortion. By contrast, President Joe Biden, who used to express similar unease, seems to be leaning into it more — raising the issue within the first few seconds of his 3-minute launch ad.

Trump announced his comeback bid last year without explicit support from the anti-aboriton movement, whose leaders felt alienated when he blamed them for Republican midterm losses, at least in part to deflect his own responsibility for the GOP’s underperformance. And he has bobbed and weaved on the matter in recent months — reminding Republicans he appointed the Supreme Court justices who overturned Roe, while indirectly calling Florida’s six-week abortion ban “too harsh.”

DeSantis spends little time touting his “Heartbeat Protection Act” on the campaign trail — often relegating it to half a sentence in a long list of policy accomplishments. In front of select audiences, he has sought to capitalize on Trump’s approach to abortion, telling the Christian Broadcasting Network, “While I appreciate what the former president has done in a variety of realms, he opposes that bill. He said it was, quote, ‘harsh’ to protect an unborn child when there’s a detectable heartbeat.”