Conservative activists are sounding the alarm to counter efforts that the Republican platform could dilute anti-abortion language — a departure from decades of precedence.
In a preemptive move, a group of 10 anti-abortion leaders sent a letter to former President Donald Trump, pressuring him not to back away from language in the GOP platform against abortion. The drastic move is evidence of rising fear among conservatives that Trump’s consistent statements that abortion should now be left up to states after the fall of Roe v. Wade could become the national stance of the GOP.
The Republican platform has not been updated since 2016 and was re-approved in 2020. The more than 60-page platform included a federal abortion ban after 20 weeks, which Trump has not publicly said he supports.
This time around, the platform committee will hold a closed-door session to determine the party platform a week before the Republican National Convention begins on July 15, which will reportedly be scaled back from 2016. C-SPAN will not broadcast the meeting in another departure from precedence.
The letter, obtained by the Washington Examiner, praises the former president for being the “most pro-life president in American history” but then urges Trump to “make clear that you do not intend to weaken the pro-life plank.” The letter was first reported by the New York Times.
“We believe it is critical for voters to know that you and the Republican Party continue to stand for life,” the letter states. The leaders also urged Trump to include language that supports a “human life amendment to the Constitution” and legislation that clearly states the 14th Amendment’s protection applies to “children before birth.”
Ralph Reed, chairman of the Faith and Freedom Coalition; Marjorie Dannenfelser, president of Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America; and Tony Perkins, president of the Family Research Council were among the group of people who signed the letter.
Dannenfelser emailed the letter to Susie Wiles, Trump’s campaign senior adviser, on June 10. The SBA Pro-Life America leader remained supportive of Trump in a statement to the Washington Examiner but also pushed for anti-abortion language in the platform.
“In order for us to keep the momentum and win in November, we must remain unified. Our only request is that the GOP platform retain a key principle as it has for 40 years, asserting a constitutional right to life for the unborn under the 14th Amendment,” said Dannenfelser.
But Trump has long signaled that publicly supporting a federal abortion ban could cost the GOP the White House after the GOP faced stinging losses in 2022 and 2023. He, and by extension, his campaign, has instead insisted that Democrats are “radical” on abortion while maintaining that each state should decide how far to limit abortion.
“President Trump has long been consistent in supporting the rights of states to make decisions on abortion,” said Karoline Leavitt, the Trump campaign’s national press secretary, in a statement that did not directly address the letter’s concerns. “Joe Biden and the Democrats are radically out of touch with the majority of Americans in their support for abortion up until birth and even after birth, and forcing taxpayers to fund it.”
Democrats have successfully run on defending abortion rights since the Supreme Court struck down Roe in 2022. Fearing that another abortion theme election cycle could sink his campaign, Trump has tried to walk a fine line between bragging over helping overturn Roe by nominating three conservative Supreme Court justices while trying to appear liberal on the matter.
Toning down the GOP’s platform stance on abortion could help to prevent attacks on abortion from Democrats when the Republican National Convention is held in Milwaukee later this month. Wiles and Chris LaCivita, a Trump campaign senior adviser, alluded to preventing attacks from Democrats in a memo sent out last week.
“Publishing an unnecessarily verbose treatise will provide more fuel for our opponent’s fire of misinformation and misrepresentation to voters,” the pair wrote.
Kristan Hawkins, president of Students for Life of America, was not one of the signees of the letter to Trump but she claimed that the scaled-back GOP platform was not an issue for her organization.
“The length of the platform is not a concern for Pro-Life voters. It’s not the number of words, but the intent that matters,” Hawkins said in a statement.” If the GOP wants to succinctly pledge to protect life in law and in service, from conception to natural death, as well as end the weaponized abuse of federal programs and agencies in support of abortion and cut taxpayer funding to Planned Parenthood and other abortion vendors, that’s a solid agenda worthy of support.”
In an interview with the Washington Examiner, Kristi Hamrick, vice president of media and policy for Students for Life of America, claimed that a lack of definitive language in support of life would be a problem for social conservatives.
“What we are saying to the RNC leadership is the goal should be a strong defense of life,” said Hamrick. “To water it down or to insinuate that the goal is less than that, that would be the problem.”
“From our perspective, if you’re running for federal office, you should have a federal plan for dealing with the human rights issue of our day,” Hamrick added, pushing back against claims that abortion should be left to states to decide.
Although conservatives may be anxious over what happens to abortion in the party platform, the decision to limit the amount of infighting is a wise choice, according to Republicans, who are itching to retake the White House.
“While it will be a missed opportunity to guide the direction of the Republican Party over the next four years, it’s a smart move in the interim since the Trump campaign and RNC must deal with a small but vocal faction of social conservatives who want the GOP to take politically stupid positions on gay marriage and abortion,” a GOP strategist who requested anonymity to speak candidly said. “A televised, gavel-to-gavel platform committee meeting would surely be a distraction.”
Trump allies, Randy Evans, a former U.S. ambassador to Luxembourg under Trump; Russell Vought, a former Trump administration Office of Management and Budget director; and Ed Martin, president of the right-leaning Phyllis Schlafly Eagles, are heading the platform committee guaranteeing Trump’s wishes will be fulfilled.
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Yet some GOP experts remain unfazed by whether abortion is in the party platform, citing the toothless nature of the endeavor.
“The official platforms of both parties have become meaningless in the grand scheme of campaigns and elections as few undecided voters actually make their decision based on the platform,” said Dennis Lennox, a Republican consultant. “The only people who care about the platform are the influence groups who seek to put something in the document and rank-and-file activists, who view the platform as some kind of creed or holy writ to attack fellow Republicans in primaries and races for intra-party offices.”
