The Republican National Convention officially adopted a platform that is weak on the Pro-Life issue.
Despite more than forty years of including language supporting a national abortion ban, the Republican party’s platform has removed its call for federal action. The most recent platform, adopted in 2016, called on Congress to adopt a national 20-week ban on abortion. Medical research has confirmed that preborn children begin to feel pain during abortions at twenty weeks.
During its 2024 meeting in Milwaukee, the Republican National Convention adopted an updated platform. The platform’s stance on the Pro-Life issue states:
“Republicans Will Protect and Defend a Vote of the People, from within the States, on the Issue of Life
We proudly stand for families and Life. We believe that the 14th Amendment to the Constitution of the United States guarantees that no person can be denied Life or Liberty without Due Process, 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. We will oppose Late Term Abortion, while supporting mothers and policies that advance Prenatal Care, access to Birth Control, and IVF (fertility treatments).”
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The word “abortion” went from being mentioned in the platform thirty-five times to just once. New references to questionable birth control and IVF treatments were included. Most notably, the platform no longer contains the call for a national ban, instead, making abortion entirely a states’ issue. Still, the platform affirms that the Right to Life is in the Constitution, which “guarantees that no person can be denied Life or Liberty without Due Process.”
States cannot choose which constitutional rights are protected or not protected within their jurisdictions. The Fourteenth Amendment, like the First and Second Amendments, is not optional. These amendments guarantee certain rights on a federal level. The GOP platform largely missed its mark on this issue.
Oddly, the leadership adopted the platform without any discussion. Delegates stated there was no chance to attend subcommittee meetings to propose and debate amendments, nor was there an opportunity for the entire delegate body to amend the platform from the floor. Pro-Life conservatives fought to add the call for a national abortion ban back into the platform.
Sadly, many politicians are eager to move away from the Pro-Life movement, claiming its mission has been accomplished and expressing concerns that Pro-Life issues could lose elections for Republicans. These claims are all groundless.
There is still much work left to be done to save preborn children from abortion. Abortion pills are entering Pro-Life states at unprecedented rates, and pro-abortion states are becoming increasingly more hostile to preborn children.
There is also no evidence that the Pro-Life issue will harm the Republicans’ political prospects. A survey taken after Roe was overturned showed that 72% of respondents, including 60% of Democrats and 84% of Republicans, believe that abortion should be banned beyond the 15-week mark. When conservatives choose to meaningfully engage rather than ignore the Life issue, they win.
Even though the Republican Party’s current platform is far from perfect, it is still the only Party that entertains the Pro-Life position. The Democrats are radically pro-abortion, giving Pro-Lifers no home within their party.
The GOP platform is weak, but the fight is not over. We must reaffirm that our mission is not to simply protect Life in some states, but to protect all innocent human Life and ban the lethal practice of abortion federally.
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