Can and will Rep. Mark Green move to the center on women's reproductive rights?

Rep. Mark Green has staked out some pretty extreme territory when it comes to women's reproductive health and abortion rights. His position is so extreme it is likely to hurt him in his bid to move into the governor's mansion. Now that he doesn't have a primary challenge, will he try to move to the center on this issue?

In primary elections a politician often needs the extreme branch of their party to come out in full force in order to win. That means they pander to the wishes of the party extremists up until the primary and then usually move back toward the middle after the primary to capture the independent voters that aren't as likely to agree with the party extremists on either side of the political spectrum.

There are some long-term statistics staring Rep. Mark Green in the face on the abortion issue. A recent article in USA Today highlighted some of them:

The USA TODAY/CNN/Gallup Poll in January found that Americans backed it [Roe v Wade] by 66%-25%. In the survey, 53% said they considered themselves "pro-choice" and 42% said they were "pro-life," a breakdown that has stayed about the same for a decade.

There is another set of statistics within those that should scare Rep. Mark Green too.

There wasn't much difference on that issue by gender or age, but there was by political party. A ban that would permit abortions only to save the life of the mother was supported by 54% of Republicans but opposed by 66% of Democrats and 70% of independents.

Those coveted independent voters that Rep. Mark Green will absolutely need to win the election are even more opposed to extreme positions on abortion than the Democrats.

It will be difficult for Rep. Mark Green to move to the center on this issue. Earlier this month a Wisconsin State Journal article had Rep. Mark Green placing himself firmly in support of the exact type of law those 70% of independent voters oppose. He said he wants to revive Wisconsin's criminal abortion statute. The law is so extreme it bans all abortions except those to save the life of the mother and give doctors who perform abortions prison time.

Rep. Mark Green has a long voting history on the topic as well. It may have worked for his somewhat conservative assembly and congressional districts, but it does not fit the entire electorate of the state that he is now seeking to govern.

The moderate Republicans in the suburbs of Milwaukee alone will be hard to convince that they should vote for a governor that wants to control women's reproductive rights at every level. Rep. Mark Green wants to dictate how women get access to reproductive health care from criminalizing abortions again to making it ok for pharmacists to not fill a legal prescription for birth control. That's hard to sell to moderate Republicans and independent voters.

We'll see very soon if he tries to sell this package or something different this fall.