I agree they should have codified it. They had since 1973 to do it.
In the end, I think the dems miscalculated and never thought the republicans would actually kill their golden goose; abortion was a major sticking point for single-issue voters. Hindsight is 20/20.
Uh, yeah they would. Republicans and their general... hatred of mankind are already a pretty good motivator. It's not like there's any leftists to compete with them either, Americans are scared of those.