The Republican Party-and Donald Trump-are still Pro-Life
But Dobbs—and the abortion radicals who control the Democrat Party—have turned the politics upside down.
By: Steven W. Mosher, originally published July 22, 2024, Population Research Institute
On July 15th, delegates to the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee adopted a platform that stakes out a new position on abortion.
The document echoes the view of its standard bearer Donald Trump:
“We believe that the 14th Amendment to the Constitution … guarantees that no person can be denied Life or Liberty without Due Process,” it affirms, “and that the States are, therefore, free to pass Laws protecting those Rights. After 51 years, because of us, that power has been given to the States and to a vote of the people.”
Many pro-life leaders have signaled support for the new platform, including Marjorie Dannenfelser of the Susan B. Anthony List, who wrote, “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.”
Not everyone agrees, of course. Live Action’s Lila Rose claims that the platform change will “alienate some of his most passionate supporters and will win exactly zero fence sitters.”
I believe this is a misreading of the political moment we find ourselves in.
Committed pro-lifers—among whom I count myself—understand that Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization was a legal earthquake that radically changed the political landscape.
The good news is that fourteen states now have total bans on abortion. Twenty-seven other states ban mid-term or late-term abortions. More and more babies are alive today—some 130,000 at the latest count—who would otherwise have suffered a brutal death.
But while pro-lifers celebrated—and perhaps grew a little bit complacent—those who favor abortion under any and all circumstances are angry and energized, not to mention increasingly well-funded and organized. They are working hard to make the November election a national referendum on abortion.
And why wouldn’t they? Since Dobbs became the law of the land, there have been seven state referenda on abortion, and in every single one of them—even in Deep Red Kentucky—the pro-aborts have prevailed. “Freedom” and “liberty” and the “right to determine one’s own life course” were the deceptive synonyms used for unchecked abortion, and the individualistic impulse common to all Americans did the rest.
To make matters worse, the “fence sitters”, namely, those who have never really thought about the abortion issue, are apparently breaking their way. Pew reports that, while 73% of white evangelicals believe abortion should be illegal in all or most cases, 86% of those who do not profess any religion disagree, arguing that it should be legal throughout all or most of the nine months of pregnancy. Joining them are Black Protestants (71%), non-evangelical Protestants (64%), and Catholics (59%).
Overall, according to a 2023 Gallup poll, 52% of Americans now say that abortion is “morally acceptable,” a record high, while 34% agree with the proposition that abortion should be “legal under any circumstances.”
Because of their recent successes—and because they literally have no other issue to run on—the Party of Abortion continues to double down. They want abortion without limits and they are willing to use the full power of government against anyone who stands in the way of their radical aims. Freedom of religion, freedom of speech, freedom of the press, freedom of assembly mean nothing to them. Neither does the rule of law.
There is only one reliably pro-life Democrat left in the U.S. Congress, Tony Cuellar, and he now finds himself under investigation by the enforcement arm of the Democrat Party, otherwise known as the FBI. Kamala Harris, who may replace Biden as the Democrat nominee, goes around lying that “Donald Trump would ban abortion nationwide” when he has specifically said that he would not. The administration of which she is a part not only classifies pro-lifers as potential terrorists, but is also actually trying to terrorize them, arresting sidewalk counselors for imaginary crimes and throwing pro-life people into prison.
Calling this banana republic behavior does not do it justice. These tactics are more reminiscent of Marxist tyrannies.
None of this is to say that the Republican Party or its latest platform is perfect. While the pro-life movement, for many decades, has been allied with the Republican Party, it has not always been an easy relationship.
Only about half of Republicans share the view of pro-lifers like myself, that there is no cause greater than life.
But the upcoming election is no longer about whether we can protect all babies, but whether we can protect any at all or, indeed, our very Republic. The Democrats are determined to crush the pro-life movement one way or another in the same way their abortionist allies crush the life out of unborn children. The Republicans will support our efforts to advocate for and protect the unborn in the fifty states, as well as the fundamental freedoms that allow us to do so.
We have reached a point in our nation’s history where the fate of America’s children is strangely tied to the fate of America itself as a constitutional republic. Or perhaps it is not so strange after all that those who would deprive unborn children of life would, in the end, also seek to deprive the rest of us of our liberty and, thus, our happiness.
Steven W. Mosher is the President of the Population Research Institute, as well as an acclaimed author, speaker. and internationally recognized authority on China and population issues.