The recent vote in Ohio is just one of a string of cases where voters show they mostly support abortion access to some extent (1). Polls show the same. (2) So why do Republicans (specifically Republican politicians, not necessarily Republican voters) keep trying to do something unpopular?
My (perhaps cynical) view of Republican politicians is that they’re the “do anything to win” party. They would take any stance and pull any trick if it would give them a better chance of winning. So why are they so stuck on a losing issue?
It’s the two party system. The choices you’re given are what the largest groups in each party are in favor of, not what most people prefer.
So with Republicans, most Republicans are pro-forced birth, so that’s their platform, however unpopular it might be.
With Democrats, you don’t notice it as much because the largest bloc in the Democrats is basically the “Centrist” group. But that’s also why they keep doing these bone-headed “Trying to be Bipartisan” things that nobody except columns for the New York Times really likes rather than actually using solutions that work.