MILWAUKEE — Conservatives appeared to accept the Republican National Committee 's new platform change that strips language supporting a federal abortion ban.
The change was quietly approved this week after social conservatives had pleaded with former President Donald Trump 's campaign to firmly stand behind limiting abortion when the platform was updated on Monday. But the pressure proved unsuccessful, although the platform still includes language tying abortion to the 14th Amendment’s protection for children before birth. Despite the change, conservatives have not expressed strong disdain against the platform.
"On the national level, the platform is exactly what we've asked for for years, which is to return the issue to the states where it belongs (and) to let states work it up. And in Florida, we're going to have that voice in November," Evan Power, the chairman of the Florida GOP, told reporters during a gaggle on Wednesday. "I think there's a lot of talk about the platform, but here's what the platform actually did. It gave action items that Donald Trump will deliver when he's in office."
"Our Founding Fathers had it. It was supposed to be at the state level. It was never supposed to be anything in federal and so by overturning Roe v. Wade, that's exactly what it did is just been handed back to the states," Kathi Meo, an alternate Florida delegate and secretary of the Collier County Republican executive committee, said.
The former president's appointment of three conservative Supreme Court justices who helped strike down Roe has given him much leeway with Republicans who waited decades for the decision's demise. But it has also forced him to walk a tightrope as backlash against Republicans over abortion has intensified since June 2022, when Roe was overturned.
The platform represents Trump's stance that abortion is best left up to states to determine individually, which several conservatives praised. Republicans faced electoral losses in 2022 and 2023 that experts contributed to anger over abortion. Trump is hoping to defang abortion ahead of the November election by walking the GOP away from a federal abortion ban, which has not proven popular with moderate and independent voters, two crucial voting blocs.
"I think President Trump has done a great job with his platform. He's taking the Republican platform from 61 pages to 16 so that everybody can understand what we really believe in," Pamela Evette, lieutenant governor of South Carolina, said. "Getting abortion to the states, I think that's a great thing. It's what we've fought for, for so long."
"I think in Vermont, the platform was a step in the right direction," Paul Dame, state chairman of the Vermont GOP, said. "For so long, there's been a larger divide between the Vermont Republicans and national Republicans on social issues."
The split between the most conservative members of the party who want strict abortion limits, including no emergency exceptions, and more moderate-minded Republicans and independents has likely played into the former president's reticence on embracing a national abortion ban, which Dame echoed. The Biden campaign has seized on the unpopular abortion limits to attack both Trump and the broader Republican Party in hopes of remaining in control of the White House and Senate.
"It allows Vermont Republicans to take a position that reflects the people that live in our state, rather than holding Vermont Republicans to the same standard as Texas or Oklahoma Republicans," he continued. "So I think that was an important move. And it's in line with the Republican Party's position on a decentralized government, that decision should be made at the most local level."
Sam Brown, the Republican Senate nominee in Nevada, supported Trump's insistence that abortion is a state-level issue in an interview with the Washington Examiner. "I think the conversation needs to start with respect and sympathy for folks who are really in a tough position. President Trump is right that this is an issue that needs to be addressed by states, and I've been very, very, very consistent on that," Brown said.
The Nevada Republican is in a tough battle to unseat Sen. Jacky Rosen (D-NV) and has faced questioning around his stance on abortion after he appeared to downplay the issue . But he explicitly came out against a national ban on abortion.
"I would not vote for a federal abortion ban. That's what I think from a law standpoint is my position," he said. "But we also need to have a conversation around how can we support moms who find themselves in an unexpected pregnancy. It can be very fearful; it can be scary. How do we provide support for someone who wouldn't prefer to choose adoption or maybe just needs a little bit of financial support to get through that?"
Yet some Republicans voiced displeasure with the platform but only on background, fearing attacks from the Trump campaign. "The Republican Party is now a functionally pro-choice party with the adoption of that resolution platform," one GOP strategist who attended the convention said. "And they changed and manipulated the rules to roll the most important constituency within the party's coalition to avoid any dissent."
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
Changes to the platform happened largely out of sight behind closed doors, breaking with decades of experience when the platform committee's meeting was broadcast by C-SPAN. But other Republicans stressed that Trump was making strategic choices in order to win.
"This platform, these 20 policy prescriptions, are what Donald Trump is promising you if you select him. That's what he intends to work on," another Republican who attended the condition said. "Obviously Donald Trump made clear that he is in charge of the Republican position on abortion. And some Republicans need to understand to make change, you have to actually get elected."
Most Popular
Comments / 0