Former US Vice President Mike Pence has urged the other Republican candidates for president to back a 15-week national abortion ban.
He advocated for 15 weeks of pregnancy as "a minimum nationwide standard" for abortion in front of a group of conservatives.
The constitutional right to abortion in the US was overturned by the US Supreme Court last year.
Anti-abortion organizations want to make a federal ban a crucial election issue in 2024.
One such group's leader, Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America's Marjorie Dannenfelser, has declared she will oppose any presidential candidate who does not support a 15-week nationwide ban.
"The definition of an unapologetic pro-life leader," she said of Mr. Pence.
One of the few Republican candidates who has been clear about his support for such a ban is Mr. Pence, who has long made his evangelical faith a central part of his political identity.
The cause of life is the calling of our time, and we must not rest and must not give up until we place the sanctity of life at the core of American law in every state in this nation, Vice President Pence said on Friday at the Road to Majority Conference in Washington, DC. " .
At 15 weeks, a human fetus is about the size of an apple, eyelashes and eyebrows are beginning to grow, and the unborn child is starting to hear, according to Britain's National Health Service.
While public support for the procedure becoming legal declines by the end of the second trimester of a pregnancy, opinion polls indicate that the majority of Americans support some form of legal access to abortion.
Republicans running for office are hesitant to support a 15-week pledge.
Even some Republicans have argued that their party lost the midterm elections as a result of the Supreme Court's repeal of abortion rights in the previous year.
Meanwhile, a number of Democratic-led initiatives to defend abortion rights in states with a conservative lean, like Kentucky, were successful last year. In addition, a closely watched Wisconsin judicial race, which many saw as a proxy battle over abortion, decisively went for a Democrat.
Abortion is anticipated to be a major campaign issue for President Joe Biden.
Since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade last June, approximately 25 million women of childbearing age reside in a state with limited or nonexistent abortion services.
Many Republican presidential candidates have avoided the topic of abortion restrictions due to the political risks.
Donald Trump, a former president whose conservative Supreme Court nominations paved the way for the overturning of the US right to abortion, has backed off from endorsing a particular national ban.
Former governor of South Carolina and UN envoy Nikki Haley has declared a federal ban to be impossible.
The anti-abortion movement's disagreement over the specifics of a federal ban only makes things more difficult for candidates.
For instance, Students for Life America is advocating for a six-week ban, which would apply to cases of rape or incest even though most women are not aware they are pregnant at that point.
The issue has divided voters as well. According to a PRRI poll conducted in February, 44% of Americans support banning abortions after 15 weeks, while 52% disagree.
Additionally, a federal ban on abortion would need to be approved by both houses of Congress, and Republican attempts to do so in the past have been unsuccessful.
