During his time in the White House , former President Donald Trump nominated three justices to the Supreme Court who would be key to overturning Roe v. Wade in 2022. For many Republican voters, this was his greatest achievement. But since then, and especially during this third campaign for the presidency, Trump has once again shown himself for what he truly is: a pro-choice leader.
Last week, Trump posted on Truth Social: "My Administration will be great for women and their reproductive rights."
The phrase "reproductive rights" is pro-choice. The abortion industry and its supporters use it to focus on the "rights" of the woman at the expense of the life she is carrying. It's simply not the way one talks about the abortion issue if one is pro-life.
Even the leftist media noticed the change and commented on it in articles such as "On Truth Social, Donald Trump Tries to Refashion Himself as Supportive of Abortion Rights" at the New York Times and "Trump is trying to allay concerns on abortion, and abortion opponents aren't happy" at NPR . Trump's biggest supporters can't chalk it up to unfair criticism. The shift is serious.
During a recent appearance on NBC's Meet the Press, Trump's running mate, Sen. J.D. Vance (R-OH), tried to do some damage control . Except instead of comforting pro-life voters, he did more to reassure moderates and abortion supporters.
When speaking of Trump possibly vetoing a federal ban on abortion, Vance said: "I can absolutely commit that. Donald Trump’s view is that we want the individual states and their individual cultures and their unique political sensibilities to make these decisions because we don’t want to have a nonstop federal conflict over this issue."
It doesn't matter that the chance to veto a ban would most likely never come as a ban would never pass Congress. And there is nothing wrong with abortion as a state issue. This is what the landmark decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization accomplished: returning the issue to the people. But Trump has shown himself to be less than enthusiastic about pro-life measures in individual states.
Last September, Trump said of the abortion ban Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) signed, "I think what he did is a terrible thing and a terrible mistake."
More recently, Trump said Florida's abortion ban should extend past six weeks, and shortly afterward, he pledged to mandate insurance coverage of in vitro fertilization .
The obvious Trump-Vance shift to a flexible pro-life stance in favor of a broader appeal is a problem. Supporting and protecting the sanctity of life is a major way the Right differs from the Left. It has long been a tenet of conservatism, even through cultural shifts and societal pressure. Only one party even acknowledges the baby in each pregnancy, and it's not the Democrats. We can't water down the pro-life message in the quest to defeat the radically pro-abortion Harris-Walz ticket.
Those who believe the Right should withhold its criticism of Trump and Vance during the election season are more concerned with appeasing a cult of personality than anything else. There is simply no room for weakening the Republican stance on abortion.
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Lila Rose of Live Action, a major pro-life organization, said as much on X: "It would help [the] Trump campaign to cut the pro-abortion rhetoric and instead say, 'I will fight for life. Children are precious and worth fighting for. I will do everything to protect LIFE and help American families.' Many people would love to support Trump, but becoming like Democrat[s] on abortion hurts him."
The pro-life community in America was caught unprepared for a post-Roe world, but that doesn't mean words or motivations must change to pacify angry voters on the Left. In America, there is only one side willing to stand up for and fight for the rights of unborn children. If Republican voters, leaders, and nominees don't fill that role, no one will.
Kimberly Ross ( @SouthernKeeks ) is a contributor to the Washington Examiner's Beltway Confidential blog and a contributing freelance columnist at the Freemen News-Letter.
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