Leaders Respond to the Republican Platform
Four days have passed, filled with lively debate between Christians, conservatives, abortion radicals and everyone in between. As the dust has settled, several prominent Christian and conservative leaders and organizations have released statements on the contentious platform, aiming to calm discourse and ease confusion. But what exactly have these leaders and groups been saying? We have included some of their statements below.
Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America, one of the leading voices in the pro-life movement, offered the following statement on Monday, fully endorsing and approving of the platform:
“It is important that the GOP reaffirmed its commitment to protect unborn life today through the 14th Amendment. Under this amendment, it is Congress that enacts and enforces its provisions. The Republican Party remains strongly pro-life at the national level. The mission of the pro-life movement, for the next four months, must be to defeat the Biden-Harris extreme abortion agenda. The platform allows us to provide the winning message to 10 million voters, with four million visits at the door in key battleground states. We are educating voters on the Biden-Harris promotion of abortion for any reason even in the seventh, eighth, or ninth month. We contrast that with protecting the states’ ability to create consensus pro-life laws and provide compassionate options for women and children.”
David Barton, founder of WallBuilders, offered his own take on the platform on Tuesday, criticizing parts and praising others:
The 2024 Republican Platform is a strong statement of President Trump’s campaign beliefs. It differs from most Republicans platforms, however, in that this one is written by the campaign rather than the grassroots and elected platform members…The area of greatest criticism for most people of faith is that it takes the weakest position on protecting unborn life of any Republican platform since 48 years ago in 1976. No longer seeking to protect the unalienable right to life as articulated in our founding documents.
Tony Perkins, President of the Family Research Council and Chairman of FRCAction, shared a much more critical take on the new Republican platform Monday evening:
The 2024 platform is a concise statement of campaign priorities, but not a declaration of enduring principles for a political party. Unfortunately, the choreographed process — which allowed no amendments to be discussed or voted upon — was unbecoming of a party that champions free speech and due process.
Delegates were only given a few minutes of discussion before ‘debate’ was ended and a vote was taken. Ironically, the document calls for a vigorous defense of free speech and the end of government censorship. Deprived of the opportunity to discuss amendments to the ‘draft’ platform document, we have submitted a minority report to supplement that campaign’s platform.
And in a VERY important Clear Truth Media article, the reality of compromise on respect for preborn life is boldly spelled out. The author shares, “Western nations are drenched with the blood of our own children,” and goes on to share, “There can be no peace with child sacrifice.”
The Family Research Council is asking for a petition to be signed in support of their minority report that states: Today we observe the vitality of a more recent but analogous set of commitments, embodied most prominently in the promise of the Republican Party to preserve the right to life of every human being from conception to natural death. That commitment made its way into the platform of 1976, twelve decades after that original session in Philadelphia. That commitment to a human life amendment and a call for the Fourteenth Amendment’s protection application to children before birth has been repeated in every platform since and, by this declaration of principle, we extend it now.
While conservatives weigh-in, pro-aborts are more than unhappy with the platform language and are thrashing publicly, concerned their sacred cow of preborn child dismemberment, tragically advanced as “healthcare,” is at risk of becoming illegal once and for all.
David Pepper, former chairman of the Ohio Democratic Party, and a former councilman for the city of Cincinnati warns, “But don’t be fooled.
Their position remains to support a national abortion ban. And to go even further than a legislated national ban that often is discussed. And their anti-abortion supporters actually know it.”
And in a panic filled email by Rewire Newsgroup, an abortion-advancing organization, they describe the new platform this way: Instead of embracing some specific nationwide abortion ban, Republicans are set to adopt a platform at their convention that embraces “life” under the 14th Amendment. This is a very clear signal to states to proceed with total abortion bans and their own declarations that life begins at conception—like Alabama has via its state supreme court.
In a New York Times opinion piece, The Anti-Abortion Movement Is Perverting the 14th Amendment, pro-abortion author Jamelle Bouie writes, “The new platform language may lack the specificity of the old, but it expresses the same basic commitment to vast restrictions on reproductive rights and bodily autonomy.”
Cincinnati Right to Life stands on the shoulders of pro-life giants Dr. Jack and Mrs. Barbara Willke. We are unwavering in our mission of “Protecting life at every age and every stage” as we continue our political support, grassroots activism, and education.
Thank you in advance for your continued prayers and involvement. We are the pro-life community in Southwest Ohio and together we will shed light on the atrocities and violations against the preborn in our community and beyond, while continuing to educate and enlighten our loved ones, including politicians, in order to remain unwavering in our commitment to building a culture of life.