Like it or not, abortion is an electoral issue, and even more so following the United States Supreme Court decision in Dobbs vs. Jacksion Women's Health Organization (2022).
Dobbs reversed Roe v. Wade 410 U.S. 113 (1973).
Neither side in the abortion debate has fully adjusted to the sea-change that has occurred, or fully absorbed what Dobbs actually said. (When is the last time you read the decision?)
As a result, we in the anti-abortion community have to give ourselves some room to wrestle with exactly what the next step is for public policy on abortion.
This writer helps lead this movement. A movement committed to the protection of every human life from the moment that life begins.
The right to life is not negotiable, and no right is more fundamental.
Yet the American people do not agree on abortion policy, and therefore neither do members of Congress. So it’s no surprise that presidential (and other) candidates do not agree either.
Some think that former-President Donald Trump has weakened his position on abortion.
As one who served as National Co-Chair of Pro-life Voices for Trump in the 2020 Campaign, this writer is quite convinced that's not the case at all.
I have endorsed former-President Trump in this primary, and I look forward more than ever to voting for him. And this writer does it all based on the abortion issue.
He promised he would do more for the unborn than any other anti-abortion president, and he fulfilled that promise. He gave us judges who refuse to impose abortion on the law.
Through executive actions, our nation's 45th commander in chief advanced the protection of the unborn, strengthened the freedom of the anti-abortion movement to fight, and weakened the abortion industry, especially through de-funding.
In his State of the Union addresses and in his rallies, he urged Congress repeatedly to end late-term abortion.
I recall how then Chief-of-Staff Mick Mulvaney told the story of how President Trump, on his own personal initiative, added more anti-abortion language into the text of his State of the Union addresses.
And the president showed how important the anti-abortion movement had become in America, and how willing he is to identify with it, by personally attending the March for Life.
He has done nothing to indicate a weakening of this personal commitment.
Having studied his administration, and having interacted with him and with so many people much closer to him, I can't for a moment imagine him ever doing so.
Donald Trump knows, as we all do, that the states, after Dobbs, have rushed in two opposite directions.
States like Oklahoma completely protect the unborn, while neighboring Colorado completely abandons them to unlimited abortion.
Such differences extend from coast to coast.
In Florida, we now have the Heartbeat Protection Act (though we’re still waiting on our state court to let it go into effect).
But America isn’t Florida.
The Sunshine State has a Republican trifecta and super-majority.
Neither Florida nor any other state would have significant protections for the unborn were it not for Donald John Trump. His Supreme Court appointments overturned Roe, as he accurately predicted in 2016 when asked about it: "Well, if we put another two or perhaps three justices on…that will happen automatically."
President Trump recently discussed abortion policy with Sean Hannity.
His remarks were not a moral-philosophical treatise, but a practical assessment, showing how we in the anti-abortion movement now have more strength and freedom to advance our agenda. "It (the Dobbs decision) put pro-lifers in a very strong negotiating position," he said.
In other words, the fight is engaged.
The Court is out of our way.
We can protect the unborn if we so choose.
We can work to persuade our lawmakers to protect the children in the womb, as early in pregnancy as they’re willing to go.
Nobody knows what kind of Congress we will have in 2025.
Former-President Trump is practical.
If he is re-elected, I am confident he will advance the protection of the unborn in every way that is constitutionally possible in the situation in which he finds himself in 2025.
But even anti-abortion leaders, with whom I have led many strategy meetings, do not agree on what specific federal bill should be proposed and passed.
With so many political and legislative variables in play, it's completely reasonable that President Trump would not at this point delve into specifics about hypothetical bills that may or may not reach his desk.
Primary politics is different from the general election.
At this point most are inclined to focus on the differences between the GOP candidates, including on the critical issue of abortion.
But it would be wiser to do what President Trump did in the Hannity interview. He pointed out that "Pro-life isn’t radical…what’s radical is killing a baby in the eighth month, the seventh month, the ninth month."
That’s what the Democratic position is.
When we expose that, we always win.
President Trump will advance the anti-abortion agenda in America.
We know that not simply because he says so, but because he already has.
Frank Pavone is one of the most prominent anti-abortion leaders globally. Read Frank Pavone Reports — More Here.
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