“We are going to build a wall and Mexico is going to pay for it!” he bellowed in 2016, descending the elevators at Trump Plaza. Immediately, I hated him. Growing up in a feminist, leftist, pro-choice family, we all collectively agreed that “Trump means bad.” Even his own party declared him an infidel, with many Republicans agreeing he was a racist xenophobe. Meghan Kelly had a feud with him. Most of his party didn’t think he would win. I proudly sported my “Grab them by the pussy” shirt on election day as I cast a vote for what I thought was the sensible politician and happily watched the election results, elated that America was going to elect its first female president. I was truly with Her. But Trump won. Despite experienced politicians saying his rhetoric was too polarizing. Despite Hillary having been ahead in every major poll. Trump was known for his brash way of speaking, and he never toned it down. But most importantly he didn’t soften any of his positions, extremist as they were.

Shortly before the 2016 election I converted to Catholicism, and as I made the slow uphill climb to living a Catholic life, I radically changed my politics. I feel a bit guilty about voting for Hillary but at least she didn’t win, and now I have changed my mind about 2016 Trump. I like that man and wish I voted for him eight years ago. I can’t say the same today as he seems to have gone wobbly on abortion. But what disappoints me most is seeing the party that upholds “Christianity” and “Family Values” cave on pro-life values. As someone who sidewalk counsels on a regular basis and has filed two police reports as the victim of pro-choice violence, who has volunteered in Crisis pregnancy centers and lobbied congressional representatives, I will concede that most Americans are pro-choice. But there is a caveat—most of them support limits on abortion. When prompted, they are adamantly against not only late-term abortion but second-trimester abortions as well.

The pro-life movement has never shied away from its two-pronged goal: Overturn Roe v. Wade and end abortion nationally. Donald Trump promised back in 2016 that he would get Roe overturned if he was elected. Enough voters either didn’t care that much about abortion or wanted Roe to be overturned, and so he won. Trump was good to his word and put pro-life justices on the Supreme Court. In 2022, the “Trump” Court overturned Roe and sent abortion legislation back to the states. But now, as the next presidential election approaches, it seems we need to tiptoe around the issue of abortion. Why? What has changed? A string of pro-choice wins at the state level since the Dobbs decision, that’s what’s changed. Republicans are scared. Even some prolifers in the political sphere now believe “pro-life is not a winning issue.”

While perceived importance of abortion “rights” rose after the repeal of Roe, I have been hard pressed to find any actual statistics of voters changing their party affiliation or preferred candidates over this single issue. The fact is that while Americans do consider abortion important it is not the key issue that will change their vote or get them to the polling station. After all, what affects your life more? The escalating cost of groceries, lack of good job opportunities, or the Planned Parenthood clinic in your neighborhood closing down? Trump won in 2016 because he hit at the heart of the issue that affects everyone: “It’s the economy, stupid.” Really. Trump’s stance against abortion was just a cherry on top.

Those who disagree may point to the many losses the pro-life movement has suffered in elections since Dobbs. But those were state elections, and prolifers are right to be concerned. For instance, the passage of Proposition 3 in Michigan made abortion legal at any stage of pregnancy, a devastating loss for us. I would argue, however, that Prop 3 was not sufficiently explained to the voters. To repeat what I said above, most Americans do not support second- or third-trimester abortions. Had Michigan voters understood the lethal implications of this bill, they would have rejected it. Sadly, the pro-life side was underfunded while Planned Parenthood, Emily’s List, and other abortion-rights groups got a rage-induced boost in donations in the months after Roe was overturned.

Or take the ballot initiative in Ohio, which enshrined abortion in the state’s constitution, another crushing pro-life loss. But what gives? The governor is a pro-life Republican, and the state boasts Senator J.D. Vance, who is vocally pro-life. You can’t say that pro-life positions are unpopular when most Ohio politicians are pro-life. What happened in Ohio was the result of an underfunded and weak pro-life effort that didn’t effectively channel resources into canvassing and running advertisements. Prolifers need to wise up and step up their game. Without strong and coordinated pushback, ruthless abortion advocates behind citizen initiatives like those in Michigan and Ohio will continue to mislead voters into believing that their only choice is between no abortion at all and abortion on demand.

Back to the upcoming presidential election. What Republicans are missing is that at the federal level voters don’t care what their stance is on abortion. Or at least not enough to change their vote because of it. Trump won in 2016 because he called out “The Swamp” and promised to restore power to the working class. The abortion rate, which has ticked up under Biden, will begin to drop again as wages rise and employees have better leveraging power with their employers. Trump can be as adamantly pro-life now as he was in 2016—he even hinted then that women should be punished for having abortions and doctors for doing them—and still win the election. But now he’s not so brash, about abortion or working-class empowerment. I miss the Trump I hated in 2016.