As the Republican National Convention draws near, movement pro-lifers are becoming concerned that the party will water down its historic commitment to their cause at the behest of the party's leader and presumptive presidential nominee, Donald Trump.
Trump ran on a commitment to protect the unborn in 2016 and is considered by many to be the most accomplished pro-life president in history, given his role in nominating the Supreme Court justices who would go on to overturn Roe v. Wade. But since his defeat in 2020, Trump has publicly and privately suggested that abortion has become an electoral liability for Republicans.
In the wake of the Dobbs decision, Trump sought to neutralize that perceived vulnerability by opposing a federal abortion ban and adopting the view that the issue should be left to the states. This federalist approach is a departure from his prior support, during his presidential term, for a 20-week ban, raising questions about how the platform committee may amend the national party's platform this summer in Milwaukee.
The RNC's 2016 platform, reaffirmed at the 2020 convention during the pandemic, mentions the word "abortion" 35 times and expresses support for a human-life amendment to the U.S. Constitution as well as "legislation to make clear that the Fourteenth Amendment's protections apply to children before birth."
Given Trump's recent statements on abortion, pro-life groups and some RNC members fear that kind of strongly worded commitment will be absent from this year's platform when it's unveiled in July.
State delegations are responsible for picking their committee representatives at the convention, which includes one man and one woman from each state and territory. It's typical for the presumptive presidential nominee's campaign to play a role in identifying platform picks who are closely aligned with their candidate. This cycle is no exception. Many RNC members tell NR that in recent weeks, the Trump campaign has sent state parties a slate of their preferred picks for the four convention committees, including the influential platform committee.
Some members who were eager to get a slot on the coveted platform committee are convinced they were sidelined by the Trump campaign because of their staunchly pro-life views.
Vermont RNC committeeman Jay Shepard, for example, "very much wanted" to serve on the platform committee but was disappointed to hear he didn't make it onto the Trump campaign's list of preferred picks.
"Apparently, they were not looking for someone like me who is firm in their position on the life issue," Shepard, a Trump supporter with committed pro-life views, tells NR. As he understands it, the presumptive nominee's campaign sent Vermont Republicans a number of Republicans "who they thought would be 100 percent loyal to the president, rather than loyal on any particular issue on the platform . . .
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