MILWAUKEE \u2014 Dozens of speakers this week have taken to the sleek Republican National Convention stage to present a united front on opposing leftism at home and promoting conservative populism.<\/p>\n
But many have avoided talking about a longtime party priority: ending abortion.<\/p>\n
After Republicans approved a new party platform Monday that abandoned the party\u2019s long-standing explicit support for a national abortion ban, a small number of speakers have mentioned abortion. Off the convention stage, the most ardent antiabortion activists have condemned the change, but many delegates here have said they understand the adjustment after voters have rejected abortion restrictions. Former president Donald Trump, who accepted the party\u2019s presidential nomination, has said abortion restrictions should be left up to the states. Some supporters are now repeating that message, the latest example of Trump moving the party faithful toward his personal ideology.<\/p>\n
Wisconsin delegate Dixon Wolfe, 23, studied at the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary and described himself as \u201cvery pro-life.\u201d But he said he understands \u201cthe culture is not on board\u201d with the antiabortion movement.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo Republicans need to be practical and pragmatic about the abortion issue, in my opinion,\u201d Wolfe said. \u201cThey need to definitely leave it up to the states like Trump has said.\u201d<\/p>\n
At campaign speeches, in social media posts and on mailers, Trump has touted his role in \u201cending Roe,\u201d after three Supreme Court justices he nominated helped overturn the law that for nearly 50 years had protected the right to abortion. His newly named running mate, Sen. J.D. Vance (R-Ohio), had previously endorsed national restrictions on abortion. But during his acceptance speech Wednesday night, Vance didn\u2019t mention abortion.<\/p>\n
Some delegates were disappointed and said they wanted to see the party push for a national ban. The party platform has long advocated for a 20-week abortion ban but dropped that from this week\u2019s document. The new platform still includes language that links abortion to the 14th Amendment, leaving open a path to legislation or court decisions that would grant fetuses additional legal rights. But some antiabortion advocates are upset that the platform no longer says that \u201cthe unborn child has a fundamental right to life\u201d and no longer explicitly says the 14th Amendment should be clarified to protect embryos and fetuses.<\/p>\n
David Lightner, a Missouri delegate and an RNC committeeman, said he was \u201ca little disturbed\u201d by the change.<\/p>\n
\u201cI know everybody on the ground is not happy,\u201d he said. \u201cWe\u2019re pro-lifers in Missouri. That\u2019s what we\u2019re all about.\u201d<\/p>\n
Missouri delegate Zina Hackworth looked around the cavernous Fiserv Forum on Monday during the platform vote, expecting someone to step up and object, but she was frustrated when no one did, and it overwhelmingly passed. Since then, Hackworth said she has heard some speakers mention abortion in passing, but it has mattered little to her.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf our platform doesn\u2019t say it, it\u2019s a moot point to me,\u201d she said. \u201cDon\u2019t tell me that you\u2019re protecting life if you\u2019re not telling the whole story.\u201d<\/p>\n
In one of the few mentions of abortion policy, Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.), who chaired the platform committee, declared ahead of the Monday vote that the platform is \u201cprotecting life for the born and unborn.\u201d<\/p>\n
Utah delegate Gayle Ruzicka, who was on the committee but complained that antiabortion activists had little say in the plank, shook her head at Blackburn\u2019s mention of the unborn.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe made that up,\u201d she whispered to a delegate next to her.<\/p>\n
Diane Hendricks, a Trump donor who spoke Thursday night, seemed to allude to the abortion debate in passing \u2014 saying that she got pregnant at 17 and gives \u201cthanks every day for my son.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI truly believe that every life is a sacred gift from God,\u201d she said. But she did not connect her personal experience to any discussion of abortion policy.<\/p>\n
North Carolina Evangelical Rev. Franklin Graham also briefly mentioned the issue in a call-and-response portion of his speech in which he listed the actions Trump took to appeal to Christian demands.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen he told me and our country in 2016 that he was going to appoint conservative justices in 2016, guess what he did?\u201d Graham asked.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe did,\u201d the audience responded.<\/p>\n
To Julie Emmons, a delegate from Graham\u2019s state, that mention was about the Dobbs decision.<\/p>\n
\u201cI can\u2019t think of a more important topic to talk about than protecting life,\u201d she said, acknowledging that she didn\u2019t want to criticize the speakers who had left out the topic.<\/p>\n
Blocks from the convention, Jessica Newell, a 21-year-old Live Action activist, inflated red heart-shaped balloons ahead of the platform vote and expressed frustration when she heard it was about to pass. She warned that Republicans may lose a solid base of support. The majority of Republicans and independents who lean toward the Republican Party, 57 percent, believe abortion should be illegal in all or most cases, according to a Pew Research Center poll. Meanwhile, 85% of Democrats and Democratic leaners said it should be legal.<\/p>\n
\u201cA lot of people I\u2019ve talked to talk about being politically homeless,\u201d she said. \u201cOur options are voting Democrat or voting Democrat.\u201d<\/p>\n
But Trump allies, including some who feel strongly about abortion, are skeptical that Trump\u2019s effort to thread the needle on that issue would cost him with socially conservative voters, given their staunch support for him and his agenda overall.<\/p>\n
Abortion came up with greater frequency during a Thursday morning breakfast hosted by the Faith and Freedom Coalition, a Christian group closely allied with Trump. Hackworth attended, donning gold lapel pins shaped like hands and feet that have developed in the womb at 10 weeks and listened as Republican National Committee Chair Michael Whatley declared that he was proud to be \u201cthe most pro-life chair in the history of the Republican Party.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHow can anyone say we\u2019re the party of life?\u201d Hackworth asked rhetorically. \u201cI\u2019m just tuning that out now.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
MILWAUKEE \u2014 Dozens of speakers this week have taken to the sleek Republican National Convention stage to present a united front on opposing leftism at home and promoting conservative populism. But many have avoided talking about a longtime party priority: ending abortion. After Republicans approved a new party platform Monday that abandoned the party\u2019s long-standing […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":6362,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6361","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-politics"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6361","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6361"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6361\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6362"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6361"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6361"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6361"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}