ERICK-WOODS ERICKSON
The Republican National Committee platform has passed out of committee. It “softens” socially conservative language, getting rid of lines in support of heterosexual marriage and nationwide restrictions on abortion.
Pro-life activists are mad. They wanted clear denunciations of abortion and instead got muddied language and support for IVF, something many pro-life Christians actually oppose.
Here’s the reality: Donald Trump knows those upset will still vote for him. If they didn’t abandon him after the Access Hollywood tape, they are not going to abandon him now. They want power and he gives them that. Many of them used scripture to justify abandoning the evangelical belief that character matters in a President — a position they insisted on when Clinton was President, but then found themselves supporting a serial adulterer. Much of the pro-life moment has long put practical politics ahead of principle. The abolitionists are not going to go far in the Party of Trump. And the GOP is Trump’s Party.
Second, Donald Trump put three Justices on the United States Supreme Court who killed Roe v. Wade. A nationwide ban on abortion, even at 15 weeks, would not pass the United States Senate, so why spend capital on it when he already eliminated Roe?
Third, the pro-life movement is divided between a federalist response at the state level and a national moratorium on abortions at some point during pregnancy. Donald Trump just imposed order on the process.
Finally, platforms are meaningless generally and, with Donald Trump, in particular. He makes up his mind by relying on his gut in each situation and is not going to be bound to any platform from the RNC platform to Project 2025.
