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The Republican National Committee is not explicitly endorsing a federal ban on abortion in its current platform as the party conforms to the whims of former President Donald Trump.
While Trump has been concerned about the political impact that the issue may have on Republicans, the platform change is a move that anti-abortion activists have been arguing against.
The platform does, however, invoke the 14th Amendment to suggest that fetuses are guaranteed rights, and supports a ban on “late term” abortion, which is not a medical term.
An RNC committee adopted a draft platform on Monday that states “Republicans will protect and defend a vote of the people, from within the states, on the issue of life.” The platform will be finalized next week following a vote of the full convention.
A landmark Supreme Court decision in June 2022 overturned Roe v Wade, which enshrined a constitutional right to abortion care. The decision effectively left the legality of abortions up to individual states.
“We proudly stand for families and Life,” the RNC platform section on abortion goes on to state. “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.”
That stance brings the platform in line with Trump’s approach to abortion.
He has often bragged about appointing the Supreme Court justices who overturned Roe but has also shared his concerns about the electoral implications that the issue may have for Republicans.
The platform states: “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).”
Anti-abortion activists have praised the decision to include language about the 14th Amendment, which Republican lawmakers argue should gaurantee “fetal personhood,” or the idea that a fetus is guaranteed rights, which abortion rights advocates warn could open the door to more sweeping anti-abortion laws.
In 2016, the RNC platform included a 20-week federal limit on abortion or argued that states should pass the Human Life Amendment, which states that the Constitution should be amended to state that life starts at conception.
The new text was handed to the RNC’s platform committee on Monday. Trump wrote and edited part of the 16-page draft, according to Politico. The new draft platform is noticeably shorter than the current version.
Anti-abortion groups are still backing the new platform despite the revised language and the lack of a federal limit. Some groups have argued that the federal limit is no longer needed, even though some Democratic-led states allow abortion at a later stage than 20 weeks.
The CEO of Americans United for Life, John Mize, told Politico that “we’ve got to change hearts and minds on this issue before we get to a point where we can begin looking at federal legislation.”
He added: “A 20-week ban, that’s like 5 percent of abortions. It doesn’t really move the needle.”
But Republicans have argued for a federal ban for decades. It’s the first time in 40 years that the party is not pushing a federal limit.
One Republican delegate told the outlet, “The RNC is doing this process behind closed doors because they know that the Republican grassroots would never go for this establishment RINO bulls***.”
The RNC is now functioning as an arm of the Trump campaign after the former president replaced former Chair Ronna McDaniel with former North Carolina Republican Party chair and election denier Michael Whatley, and made his daughter-in-law Lara Trump co-chair.
Social conservatives now fear that the party is set to take a step back from the hardline anti-abortion stance it has held for years. Anti-abortion leaders have been urging the Trump campaign to not abandon federal limits, and they shared their anger at efforts to control the platform committee process, such as removing two anti-abortion delegates from the RNC panel.
One anti-abortion leader told Politico that the Trump campaign was sacrificing “the pro-life cause” for “political expediency.”
The change comes after Trump faced criticism from Democrats as President Joe Biden’s campaign emphasized that his predecessor nominated half of the Republican majority on the Supreme Court that overturned Roe two years ago.
The Independent has contacted the Trump campaign for comment.
When reached for comment, the RNC referred back to a press release in which Whatley and Lara Trump said that the platform “is a bold roadmap that will undo the devastating damage that Joe Biden’s far-left policies have done to this country, power President Trump to a historic victory in November, and Make America Great Again.
DNC national press secretary Emilia Rowland said in a statement that Trump “and his team overhauled the Republican platform process to keep the public and the press in the dark.”
She went on to accuse the former president of wanting a “national abortion ban.”
