Prominent anti-abortion, evangelical and social conservative groups are pressuring the Republican National Committee not to soften its stance on abortion ahead of a meeting next week to draft a new Republican platform.
The new effort by groups including Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America, Students for Life and a coalition led by the Family Research Council aims to ensure that Republicans do not make former President Trump’s policy of allowing states to access abortions the official position of the party.
Anti-abortion leaders expressed concern throughout the campaign about Trump’s approach, as he has not taken a firm stance and has sought to avoid treading into the political minefield of abortion.
But these groups have grown increasingly nervous as the Republican National Committee endorses Trump ahead of the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee.
They argue that weakening the platform would abandon all the progress the movement has made in restricting access to the process and risk causing divisions within a party that should be united.
The campaign and the Republican National Committee apparently rejected those entreaties.
Marjorie Dannenfelser, president of Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America, said the anti-abortion movement has been seeking assurances from the Trump campaign for more than a month that it “will not water down the pro-life provisions of the platform” but has received no response.
“All indications are that the campaign will push for reforms behind closed doors,” Dannenfelser said in a statement. “If the Trump team decides to remove state protections for unborn children from the Republican platform, it would be a miscalculation that would undermine party unity and destroy pro-life enthusiasm between now and the election.”
Kristan Hawkins, president of Students for Life, hosted a webcast with Sen. James Lankford (R-Okla.) on Monday night to urge young anti-abortion activists to contact their state and local Republican leaders.
Hawkins said he has had numerous conversations with the Trump campaign since February about what the platform should reflect.
During the webcast, Hawkins and Lankford criticized the notion that abortion is solely a state issue.
“I fully understand that we don’t have 60 votes in the Senate, but the worst thing we can do is not debate this issue at all and make people think this is no longer worth it. The way to win the debate is to keep debating this issue, not to debate it less. So as Republicans, we have to make this a national focus and debate,” Lankford said.
The Republican platform has long condemned abortion and voiced support for a nationwide ban.
In 2016, the party platform supported “legislation to clarify that the Constitution’s Human Life Amendment and 14th Amendment protections apply to unborn children.”
It also included language opposing public funding to perform or facilitate abortions and to fund organizations like Planned Parenthood.
But the platform hasn’t been updated since then, after the Republican National Committee passed stopgap measures in 2020 due to COVID-19.
This year is especially significant because it marks the first time the party has met to discuss reform since Roe v. Wade was overturned, and abortion opponents, including members of the Republican National Committee, are eager to show they have made progress.
But the Trump campaign is resisting to avoid any weakness: Mr. Trump has a history of avoiding taking direct positions on controversial issues, often leaving himself room to change or backtrack when it is politically expedient.
The campaign wants to present a “simplified” platform, and it has been reported that there will be no press or spectators in attendance when the platform is presented and voted on, although it may be open to other members of the RNC.
Daniel Alvarez, a senior adviser to the Trump campaign, said any speculation was premature because the platform committee “has not yet convened to discuss what language should be in the final document.”
But the campaign is also ensuring that its platform committee is made up of campaign loyalists who are not necessarily hardline anti-abortion supporters.
“I’m a little concerned about the heavy-handed tactics that have been used to try to get certain people onto the platform committee and to try to keep certain people from being on the platform committee,” said a Republican National Committee member.
The platform committee candidates didn’t want to do anything to stop Trump from winning, “but we don’t want to be watered down to something that’s empty. If the platform doesn’t stand for anything, then what does it mean?” the committee member said.
In an effort to bring more transparency to the Platform Conference, Tony Perkins, president of the Family Research Council and a member of the Platform Committee, has launched a new effort to track and score each vote of Platform delegates.
But Arizona Rep. Alex Kolodin, who also serves on the platform committee, said he thinks anti-abortion leaders are responding to the perception that change is coming, rather than concrete evidence that something will happen.
“There are certainly some attempts by moderates to undermine the very strong pro-life positions that we have in our platform, and we absolutely must be vigilant against that. I mean, the establishment is real,” Kolodin said.
He acknowledged that people might be skeptical about the meetings being held behind closed doors.
“But what I would say is that we might need to actually have a one-on-one conversation before we start throwing accusations all over the place. I’ve seen absolutely no evidence that the campaign had anything to do with this, and I think that’s something that people should be skeptical of.”
