There is a growing coalition of top Republicans who believe endorsing the brutal dismemberment and murder of unborn babies using methods that undoubtedly harm women will win them favors at the ballot box come November. Their false sense of security, which only comes by pretending to take an ill-named “moderate” stance on ending life in the womb, however, does nothing but eat away at their base and what’s left of our nation’s morality.
The Trump campaign worked hard, as The Federalist’s Logan Washburn recently reported, to “gut” the GOP’s pro-life provisions. The move — which effectively resulted in a platform that ditches the thorough pro-life promises of yesteryear in favor of okaying 99 percent of abortions under the guise of a hands-off “state issue” approach — is fairly unsurprising given Trump’s transactional track record on abortion thus far.
What is surprising, however, is how quickly seemingly pro-life Republicans rushed to support the themes of the Trump proposal without blinking an eye about voters’ explicit wishes.
Sen. Marco Rubio suggested to CNN’s Dana Bash over the weekend that where the GOP stands on life should instead “reflect our nominee.”
Sen. J.D. Vance added to the dogpile on Sunday when he offered a full-fledged endorsement of mifepristone because the U.S. Supreme Court used procedural grounds to dismiss a pro-life challenge to it last month. The drug, which is responsible for more than half of the nation’s abortions, is also dangerous to mothers and in some cases, fatal.
“I think it’s important to say that we actually have to have an important conversation in this country about what our abortion policy should be,” Vance said on NBC News’ “Meet the Press.” “Trump is the pragmatic leader here. He is saying most abortion policy is going to be decided by the states.”
GOP cowardice on life in the womb is nothing new. The blatant surrender of the pro-life values held by a strong majority of the Republican base, however, is still just as unacceptable as it was in the 1970s.
There’s no doubt that it was much easier for politicians to pretend they were pro-life prior to the 2022 Dobbs v. Jackson ruling because Roe v. Wade had earned itself a reputation for tying the hands of elected officials who tried to limit baby killing.
Now that Roe is dead and gone, the Republicans who hid their inactivity behind its facade while attempting to win over a the pro-life base are ditching that same base to conform to a formal platform that was unnecessarily tampered with to appease Democrat lies.
Pretending Republicans can only win elections by disavowing pro-life policies is a false dichotomy that Democrats and media have touted for years with hopes of scaring their political opponents into silence about unborn babies. Yet, some of the GOPers revered as the most skilled at schooling the propaganda press have adopted the same rhetoric.
Sacrificing pro-life policies on the altar of winning elections isn’t the victory strategy politicians like Vance and corrupt corporate media claim it is. In fact, stiffing the evangelical, pro-life voters whose enthusiasm at the polls put people like Trump, Rubio, and Vance into office in the first place is a dangerous game to play in a close and crucial election year.
Republicans’ hesitancy to full-send on pro-life policies would be more understandable if they were doing their best to support pragmatic policies (like popular 15-week limits on abortion) that inch the United States closer to civility. After all, the American public is already far more pro-life than politicians, media, and polls give it credit for.
The attempt to eradicate the sanctity of life from GOP politics is a costly mistake from the only party that still maintains a remote interest in preserving life, marriage, and family as institutions that lead to human flourishing.
Endorsing brutal abortions that not only kill babies but wreak provable physical, mental, and emotional harm on women in the name of the 14th Amendment isn’t simply morbidly ironic. It creates a self-fulfilling prophecy that risks changing the culture and voters’ minds in favor of the radical abortion policy touted by Democrats.
GOP support for weakness on abortion also means millions more babies and women will suffer with the blessing of a party that chose the allure of the unpromised ballot box over their moral and constitutional duty to protect every human’s natural right to life.
