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House Speaker Mike Johnson has rejected the notion that the Republican platform on abortion means that the party is happy for Democratic states to give wide access to abortion.
“I don't think that's what it means at all,” he said when asked about abortion access in blue states by Politico on Thursday. “I think it's a recognition of the reality of the politics of the country.”
Johnson continued: “No one who believes in the sanctity of life or calls himself a pro-lifer is comfortable with where some of these blue states are going – almost unlimited abortion access all the way to the end ... to the moment of birth.”
The Republican National Committee platform is not explicitly endorsing a federal ban on abortion, instead leaving the decision to the states.
The platform invokes 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 that states: “Republicans will protect and defend a vote of the people, from within the states, on the issue of life.”
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 states. “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, leaving the decision to the states, brings the platform in line with GOP nominee Donald Trump’s stance on abortion.
Trump has often bragged about appointing the Supreme Court justices who overturned Roe but also shared his concerns about the implications that strict abortion bans, and attacks on fertility treatments like IVF, may have on the election results in November.
Convention delegates expressed their support for the platform and leaving the decision to the states earlier this week.
