The founding fathers decreed that life was one of our God-given rights. You can't be a constitutional conservative without being pro-life. I'm fine with not mandating that as long as we ban abortion outright.
Folks that is a real question we have to answer. You are foolish if you believe it didn’t cost votes.
Can you name one plank in the platform that didn't cost votes with somebody somewhere? The main thing is the decades-long perception that Republicans are the party of the rich. Romney won with incomes over $50,000 big and lost with incomes under $50,000 bigger. We cannot nominate any more candidates who both are and appear to be out-of-touch upper class guys born with silver spoons in their mouths.
We win with married women but lose with single women. It's about income. Single women have lower incomes so they vote Democrat. That's why they wanted free contraception.
This is where actual research would help. Figure out which planks of the party are hurting us most, and where, and why.
It’s important.