That has prompted a debate among social conservatives about whether the Republican Party’s official position should change, too, as Trump’s campaign has handpicked a group of Republican officials to write a new Republican platform for next month’s GOP convention in Milwaukee. Abortion is one of a number of platform positions — from support for Ukraine to opposition to same-sex marriage — that could change dramatically in the wake of Trump’s takeover of the party.
Trump opted not to write a new platform when he ran for reelection in 2020, leaving much to be revised over coming weeks. The 2016 document, for instance, declared that Republicans “will not accept any territorial change in Eastern Europe imposed by force,” though Trump now talks about Ukraine giving up territory to achieve peace after the 2022 Russian invasion.
But that language would also appear to run counter to Trump’s current call to outlaw gender-affirming treatment for minors, even with the support of parents.
Trump’s campaign advisers say any speculation about what will or will not change is premature, because the committee that will vote on the final document is still being assembled. Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.), an outspoken opponent of abortion, has agreed to be the Senate representative on the platform committee, according to two people familiar with the plans, who like some others spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly. Republican House and gubernatorial representatives will be announced in coming weeks.
Voting members of the platform committee are appointed by each of the state delegations, who appoint a male and female member from their convention delegates.
But the Trump campaign, following the practice of previous nominees, has circulated slates of people they want to work on the platform, according to three people involved in the conversations. Some delegates have expressed concern that the Trump campaign is elevating people to the platform committee who will follow direction from campaign leadership.
The process is being run by Evans, former Trump budget adviser Russ Vought and Ed Martin, president of the Phyllis Schlafly Eagles who is a well-known social conservative activist. Other social conservatives who have long fought to restrict abortion say that it makes sense to change the platform now that the Supreme Court has given states the power to set their own restrictions on the procedure.
James Bopp Jr., general counsel for the National Right to Life Committee, said the platform should continue to support a constitutional amendment but it did not need to voice support for a federal law restricting abortion at 20 weeks, which Republicans refer to as a “pain-capable bill.” (The medical community is divided over exactly when a fetus might be able to feel pain, partly because it’s unclear how much of the brain must be developed first.)
Bopp helped negotiate the 1980 platform to strengthen the 1976 language supporting a constitutional amendment, and he has been directly involved in the GOP convention platform process since 2000, though he plans to serve on a different committee this year.
“The pain-capable bill was a tactical measure to try to override Roe v. Wade by moving away from the viability line to the point where the unborn feel pain,” he said. “It is a remnant of a strategy to overturn Roe v. Wade.”
Others have taken a different position, including Dannenfelser, who has tried to encourage Republican candidates like Trump to embrace federal legislation that bans the procedure no later than 15 weeks of pregnancy. But those calls have created political challenges for Republicans, who lost multiple statewide elections in 2022 with candidates who supported stricter federal laws, sometimes without exceptions for rape, incest and the life of the mother.
“It doesn’t matter what copy edits the GOP makes around the edges of their extreme platform,” Ammar Moussa, director of rapid response for President Biden’s reelection campaign, said in a statement. “Donald Trump can’t rewrite his record of being the one responsible for overturning Roe, calling to punish women who have an abortion, and embracing allies that want to ‘eradicate’ abortion entirely.”
Pence is one of the conservatives who has been critical of his former running mate’s recent shift away from support for a federal limit on abortion. A think tank he founded, Advancing American Freedom, has been warning other conservatives about “liberal Republicans who want to water down” the party’s 2024 platform on issues such as abortion, foreign policy and trade.
“The policy platform of 2016 was a winning platform, and the American people knew it, we can’t abandon our principles for the political fads of the day,” the group’s senior adviser Tim Chapman said in a statement. “The idea of scrapping pro-life policy leaves us with a country that fails to have any political party defending life.”
Lila Rose, the president and founder of Live Action, an antiabortion group with a large social media presence, warned in a statement that “any effort to weaken this strong plank is not only unacceptable but also out of touch with the convictions of Republican voters.”
Others have already begun to look for ways to find a middle ground that might satisfy multiple parts of the Trump coalition. “Those of us who are the social conservatives are very concerned about a weakening the platform on both the life and the marriage issues,” said Jay Shepard, a Republican national committeeman from Vermont.
“Dobbs made it very clear that it is a states’ rights issue,” Shepard said. “But that doesn’t stop us from advocating and suggesting to the states that they follow what we have done in past platforms.”
source and credit to: https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2024/06/12/some-abortion-opponents-worry-about-trumps-republican-platform-rewrite/
