by Keith Rothfus
While President Joe Biden’s volatile performance in the first presidential debate of 2024 has generated the most significant commentary, some remarks by former President Donald Trump have raised concerns among pro-life voters. Those remarks ultimately foreshadowed the recent proposed republican platform give up on the issue of abortion.
Trump’s first mistake was his claim that “everyone” wanted abortion to be regulated at the state level. “Fifty-one years ago, we had Roe v. Wade” – Trump he argued“AND all I wanted to send it back to the States, everyone without exception, Democrats, Republicans, liberals, conservatives. Eeveryone I wanted to get it back… Ronald Reagan wanted this brought in back” (emphasis added).
Not exactly everyone
Trump’s claim — that “everyone” wanted abortion regulation to “return to the states” — is not true. Since 1973, many Americans, including Ronald Reagan, have pushed for federal protections for the unborn. Those Americans, like Abraham Lincoln before them we recognized that the principles set forth in our Declaration of Independence and Constitution, including the rights to life and liberty, apply nationwide.
Just a week later Roe v. Wade it was decided, The First Amendment to the US Constitution on Human Lifewhich would recognize unborn children as persons under the federal constitution, has been proposed in Congress. A similar amendment has been introduced in 1979In addition to constitutional amendments, work continued on federal legislation. For example, in 1981, Senator Jesse Helms introduced bipartisan a bill recognizing unborn persons as persons under the 14th Amendment. Similar bills a bill was also introduced in the House of Representatives to recognize the personhood of an unborn child at the federal level, including one by libertarian Rep. Ron Paul (Texas). House leadership members, from current GOP Majority Leader Steve Scalise to former House Speaker Paul Ryan, co-sponsored such legislation as dozens of others, including me.
As for Reagan, the record clearly shows that he sought federal protections for the unborn. In his 1983 essay, “Abortion and the Conscience of the Nation“Reagan noted that Congress was considering measures to ‘reaffirm the sanctity of human life, even the tiniest, the youngest, and the most defenseless.'” He wrote:[t]The Human Life Act clearly recognizes unborn beings as human beings and appropriately protects them as persons under our Constitution.” Reagan also cited the Human Life Protection Act, which proposed “that it be the policy of the United States to ‘protect innocent lives both before and after birth.’” Reagan said he “supports either measure, as well as the more difficult path of a constitutional amendment.” Later, in 1988, issued a proclamation declaring “the inalienable personhood of every American, from conception to natural death” and that he “will ensure that the Constitution and laws of the United States are faithfully executed to protect America’s unborn children.”
Trump’s support for the abortion pill fails
Just as troubling as Trump’s failure to grasp the story was his downplaying of the controversy over home abortions and public restrooms caused by the abortion pill. Asking Trump about it, CNN’s Dana Bash recorded that “the federal government still plays a role in whether women have access to abortion pills,” and then asked Trump if he would “block abortion drugs.” Trump not only fumbled his answer, he ruined it: “First of all, the Supreme Court just approved the abortion pill. And I agree with their decision to do that, and I will not block that.”
Trump is simply wrong here. The Supreme Court did not “approved the abortion pill.” The case Trump was referring to, FDA vs. Alliance for Hippocratic Medicineinvolved a group of doctors who sought to block the FDA’s expansion of the abortion pill Mifeprex, which allowed the pill to be used to terminate a pregnancy up to 10 weeks (instead of seven), allowed nondoctors to prescribe the pill, and eliminated the requirement for in-person visits to a doctor. The Supreme Court did not approve the framework, but merely found that the doctors had no standing to sue. The court’s decision, however, has no bearing on what the next FDA might do. Given the seriousness of the case potential damage women under current regulations, advocates for genuine women’s health would be right to expect that the next FDA administrator, appointed by the President, would reconsider the issues raised by the Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine in its lawsuit.
Unfortunately, the proposed Republican platform codifies Trump’s false history and his surrender to the issue of life. This proposal is also an abandonment of GOP thought from Lincoln to Reagan—an abandonment of the true principles of our Declaration of Independence and Constitution.
If delegates to the Republican National Convention do not oppose this withdrawal, pro-life voters will have a choice reminiscent of William Butler Yeats prophetic words of a time when “the best lack all conviction, while the worst are full of passionate intensity.” It’s clear that Joe Biden’s insatiable appetite for unlimited abortion is unacceptable. But if we are to change a culture that is alienated, broken, and depressed, we need leaders who are willing to take on the responsibility of defending life. As John Paul II reminded America of Detroit in 1987 “[A]All the great things that are yours today will matter only to the extent that you guarantee the right to life and protect the human person.” Therefore, a prerequisite to making America great again is defending all innocent human life. Republican Party delegates and Donald Trump should take note.
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Keith Rothfus is an attorney based near Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He served in the United States House of Representatives from 2013 to 2019, representing Pennsylvania’s Twelfth Congressional District.
Photo “Pro-Life Demonstration” by Jordan Uhl. Licensed under CC BY 2.0.
