The 2024 National Republican abortion plank reflects a major setback in the party’s support for our unborn brothers and sisters. Here is the wording in this year’s platform:
“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).”
This reflects a dramatic diminishment in the protections they touted in their 2020 and 2016 Republican abortion plank:
“The Constitution’s guarantee that no one can “be deprived of life, liberty or property” deliberately echoes the Declaration of Independence’s proclamation that “all” are “endowed by their Creator” with the inalienable right to life. Accordingly, we assert the sanctity of human life and affirm that the unborn child has a fundamental right to life which cannot be infringed. We support a human life amendment to the Constitution and legislation to make clear that the Fourteenth Amendment’s protections apply to children before birth.”
and …
“We oppose the use of public funds to perform or promote abortion or to fund organizations, like Planned Parenthood, so long as they provide or refer for elective abortions or sell fetal body parts rather than provide healthcare. We urge all states and Congress to make it a crime to acquire, transfer, or sell fetal tissues from elective abortions for research, and we call on Congress to enact a ban on any sale of fetal body parts. In the meantime, we call on Congress to ban the practice of misleading women on so-called fetal harvesting consent forms, a fact revealed by a 2015 investigation. We will not fund or subsidize healthcare that includes abortion coverage.”
Pulse Life Advocates executive director, Maggie DeWitte, reacted:
“Since my first vote at 18, I have proudly been a registered republican. I have cast my vote for republicans for one issue and one issue alone- life. Other issues are important, but none as important as life. And without life, all the other issues don’t even matter.
To say that the softening of the life issue on the republican platform is disappointing is an understatement. I would categorize it more as a betrayal. I touted the fact that the number one plank of the republican party was the life issue. For the first time in decades the RNC is not endorsing a national ban on abortion in their platform. Why? Now is NOT the time for moderation on this issue. With the reversal of Roe, the most significant win for the pro-life movement in 50 years, we need to be strong and not back down.
This is the wrong direction for the republican party and quite frankly has diminished my motivation and interest in championing a party that won’t champion the most vulnerable of our society- the unborn.”
