(LifeSiteNews) — Pro-lifers were horrified when the 2024 Republican platform was released with nearly all previous pro-life commitments purged from the text — the only remaining commitment, opposition to “Late Term Abortion,” was in the same sentence as support for birth control and IVF. Reports indicate that on abortion and the sanctity of marriage, Donald Trump was personally involved in drafting the changes. The convention speeches in Milwaukee, which contained not a single mention of abortion, were confirmation of the GOP’s pivot away from the pro-life movement.
In interview with Harris Faulkner of Fox News released during the convention, Trump made it crystal clear that he wants nothing to do with the abortion issue from here on out. When asked about Project 2025, Trump told Faulkner that “I have no idea what it is,” but that it seemed like “a group of extremely conservative people got together and made a wish list, many of which I disagree with entirely.”
The example he cited: “They’re too severe on abortion, as an example. They have a strong view on abortion. From what I’ve heard it’s not too far — it’s way too far. They’ve gone really too far. I wanted to get abortion … I did a great job getting rid of Roe v. Wade. I was able to get it back to the states. I’ve given it back to the people. The people are voting. And, frankly, in many cases, the people are voting quite liberally. You look at Ohio; look at what happened in Kansas. They can vote the way they want. It’s not a federal issue.”
Trump’s conclusion was a blunt repudiation of the pro-life movement’s hopes: “It will never be a federal issue again.”
In fact, Project 2025 is notable for how seldom it mentions abortion, despite the involvement of a number of pro-life leaders. Project 2025 merely states that “abortion and euthanasia are not health care,” and advocates that the Health and Human Services Department must ensure that all its programs and activities are “rooted in a deep respect for innocent human life from Day 1 until natural death.”
The only specific pro-life policy advocated in Project 2025 is the proposal that the FDA reinstate a previous ban on mailing abortion pills and requiring that the abortion pill be overseen by doctors in person rather than telemedicine. As policy goes, the pro-life movement would see that as a bare minimum — and that, according to former and likely future President Trump, is “too severe” and “way too far.” To be scrupulously fair, he may not have actually seen what Project 2025 has to say about abortion — but his comments make it clear that he would like to move on the from the issue, full stop.
Trump’s latest comments on abortion bode ill for the pro-life movement. If he is elected once again in November, he will have made an extraordinary and unprecedented political comeback — with almost no pro-life policies in the winning platform and the key plank, present in every RNC platform since 1984, now missing: “The unborn child has a fundamental individual right to life which cannot be infringed.” His comments are also deeply demoralizing for pro-life groups facing a series of tough abortion referendums this fall. There may be up to a dozen states voting on abortion, and some of the referendums will be very close. With Trump consistently condemning pro-life laws in states like Florida — one of those holding a referendum — he could very well be impacting the final result.
Social conservatives who are close to President Trump must appeal to him directly on these issues. The lives of unborn babies are on the line.
