Posted on 07/12/2024 11:49:19 AM PDT by Morgana
The more conservatives digest what happened in Milwaukee on Monday, the more unsettled pro-lifers seem to be. Apart from the communist-like tactics the RNC used to ram the platform through the process, there’s deep dismay at the territory Republicans surrendered to Donald Trump — territory, some worry, Republicans won’t get back.
A few days removed from the shocking treatment of delegates, which they’ve characterized as everything from “demoralizing” to “dismissive” and “insulting,” more leaders are sounding the alarm that Republicans are betting their longtime principles on short-term gain. This document, former Congressman Keith Rothfus laments, is “an abandonment of GOP thought from Lincoln to Reagan — it abandons the true principles of our Declaration of Independence and Constitution. … [And] unless the delegates to the Republican National Convention object to this retreat, pro-life voters will be offered a choice that recalls William Butler Yeats’ prophetic words about a time when ‘the best lack all conviction, while the worst are full of passionate intensity.’”
Senator Josh Hawley (R-Mo.), whose conviction is a welcome contrast to his capitulating colleagues, spoke passionately about the need for conservatives to press through the cultural headwinds and stand their ground on these core values.
“Life is a principle that unites Republicans,” he insisted on Wednesday’s “Washington Watch.” “It’s one of the most important things that we have to offer the country in terms of our witness, and particularly for us as Christians.” And listen, he said, “We have been a pro-life party [since 1976]. … And I think at this moment in particular, when we see the right to life return to voters … we need all the more to say to [them], ‘You should support life. Here’s why we should be advocating for life.’ We shouldn’t be silent about it. We shouldn’t be reticent about it. We should be advocating for it. My concern is this platform seems to walk away from that and walk away from traditional marriage as well. And I think both are mistakes.”
As for this idea that abortion is just an issue for the states, the Missouri senator shook his head at the ridiculousness of the idea. “You know, this is an administration that wants to mail abortion pills into every state in the Union, regardless of what state laws are — regardless of what voters in the state have voted on.” So this president is already trying to override state laws. “Most abortions in America are chemical abortions,” Hawley emphasized, “and this administration is saying it doesn’t matter if you live in a state where either the voters directly or elected representatives have said we’re going to limit abortion or we’re not going to have abortion, except for certain exceptions. The Biden administration’s position is: ‘We don’t care. We’re going to send these abortion drugs into your state regardless. So it doesn’t matter what the voters say.’”
“If that is allowed to stand,” Hawley warned, “then the Dobbs decision doesn’t really matter much, because then the people don’t really have control of this issue. It’s federal bureaucrats who have control of the issue. They’re imposing their view on us, all 50 states.” If Republicans don’t intervene, then “my gosh,” the senator shook his head. “Nothing’s changed. People don’t have control of the issue. And I think as Republicans, we need to be clear on that. We need to be uncompromising advocates of life.”
Not to mention, he added, a majority of Americans agree with a role at the federal level — especially when it comes to the GOP’s historic positions “like no taxpayer funding for abortions, not using the military to fund or facilitate abortions — which this administration is doing, by the way — and not harvesting fetal tissue. ... As Republicans, we should say no to all those things, and we should say we advocate for life.”
The states absolutely have a role, Hawley agreed with FRC Action Chairman Tony Perkins. “I’m 100% for voters having control of this issue — I really am.” But Republicans have to be prepared to combat any White House that would trample those state laws. If anything, the GOP should be more engaged now than ever, he argued. “Just because the Dobbs decision has been issued … that doesn’t mean that now it’s time for Republicans to abandon their advocacy for life. That doesn’t mean it’s time to say, ‘Oh, you know, we’re indifferent on this issue. We don’t really care. There’s nothing to be done. If the military wants to facilitate abortions, I guess we’ll just roll over and accept that.’ No, no, no!” he said adamantly. “I think our advocacy has got to be as strong as ever, and we’ve got to redouble our efforts to build that national consensus, because now the voters do have the issue, and now we do get to decide it as we the people … which means we need more advocacy, not less.”
And yet, Perkins pointed out, there’s been this “almost stampede mentality” of Republicans running away from the issue. “And you can’t win a debate if you won’t enter into the discussion.” Frankly, he suggested, that’s why they’re losing. “They’re just not talking about it with the same passion and conviction that they had before [Dobbs].”
It’s exactly why we need to hold the line against these major, foundational party shifts. “This is what concerns me about the platform change,” Hawley admitted. “Listen, I’m not under any illusion that most voters read the platform, but it is important to the extent that it does reflect our principles as a party. And I think now more than ever, we need to stand on principle. If folks say, ‘Well, hey, this is now a matter for the people, a matter for voters, and that means we’re indifferent’ — we as Republicans, that is — ‘and we don’t really care and we don’t want to talk about it anymore. And whatever happens, happens.’”
“Boy, that’s not my perspective,” the young senator said emphatically. “I mean, my perspective is I haven’t changed my view. Every single life, every person is made in the image of God. Every single life matters. And we ought to be clear on that, especially now that the voters and their elected representatives have the say.”
We fought to overturn Roe to give the decision back to the voters.
It is now up to us to convince our fellow citizens to support life.
I think Republicans need to still say they value life, recognize that it is now a state issue (where they will fight for life there), and that at a federal level they want no federal funds or facilities used for abortions. I think that is where Trump is at today, plus he has consistently opposed late term and partial birth abortions, supports except for life of the mother, etc. I think these are good to state, as Republicans and Trump still have values, as president or as a party. Otherwise, washing our hands of the issue, means we now support whatever Democrats want to promote and legalize.
Fix where you live.
Central Planning is a disaster. Waiting for crumbs from DC when the solution is right in front of you is wrong. Here in Ohio they passed a Constitutional Amendment in haste. It’s up to us to fix it.
Hawley is mistaken. Abortion is no longer a federal issue. Trump gets it, and Hawley doesn’t.
The challenge is local, state, and national Republicans, then cannot be on opposite sides of the issues, otherwise a pro-life Republican at local and state must give up or change views to run nationally.
It’s not really that we disagree. It’s that tbe nuances don’t play well in soundbytes. If you were to make the election a national referendum on abortion Democrats would win 400 electoral votes. It’s not even to say thay it’s because the country supports it. You will die by the soundbyte. You have to be strategical in some cases. Does it serve life if you have 60 Democrats in the Senate? It does not.
Republicans now think they can completely abandon pro-lifers.
This is legally not true in those States that instituted more stringent protections. Dobbs did a lot for the 10th Amendment too.
I think where we are headed in the near term is that politicians will state their personal belief that life begins at conception and that the only exceptions should be for rape, incest, or to save the life of the mother.
However, they will support the will of the majority of the citizens they represent currently by voting for what the majority currently believe the line should be drawn while also working diligently to move that line to be in line with their personal beliefs.
Trump and the RNC are treading thin ice as they make abortion and fiscal responsibility non issues.
So, how does that work?
And Democrats have made it very clear they are passing legislation in Congress to make all abortion legal everywhere in the U.S. So now that Democrats are fighting as hard as they can, and Republicans have washed their hands of it, what do you think is going to happen?
Why doesn't the GOP admit they agree with the Dems on social issues?
Dobbs was one step forward.
Trump and the RNC ignoring the fact that abortion is a national hot button topic is one step back.
So called conservatives who yell “STATES RIGHTS” is another step back.
The Republican platform since the 1980s has articulated support for a constitutional amendment that would assert the sanctity and protection of human life, extending to unborn children. This is the first time in 40 years that the RNC has not explicitly endorsed a national ban on abortion in the platform.
Yes, it is a political hot potato. It is going to take time to figure out how to thread the needle on state and federal role on the matter. Giving pro-abortion folks a win on what was a pro-life win, is an odd and frustrating outcome.
The decision to give this back to the voters is and was wrong. No voter has been given the opportunity to fairly vote on this and they never will. Not a single unlimited abortion amendment has failed because the powers that be write the language to trick the people. Millions of innocent lives should not be slaughtered because the average citizen has no idea what is being voted on. Roberts for once was right. Overturning Roe has been a disaster. We were on the cusp of making abortion illegal with Dobbs. Alito wrote the worse opinion in SC history. Our right to live is not subject to the “elected representatives of the individual states” What no one states, the constitution IS SILENT to a right to life. It is merely implied, just like the SC found that there was an implied right to privacy and therefore justified abortion.
We worked at this for 50 years to get abortion bans down to 6 weeks which effectively bans all abortions. The incremental approach would have forced the SC to establish law via decree (not constitutional but neither is the right to life) which at that point abortion would have been illegal throughout the land. For 250 years we have lived with this concept that no one has the right to take our lives. It was and is merely a theory. Now, according to Alito, you can be put to death for any reason if approved by the “elected representatives of the states” Where there is no statute proscribing otherwise - anything is legal.
Roe was the 2nd worse decision in SC history and only surpassed as the 2nd worse by its first, its reversal.
Democrats love when Republicans fight over federal “pro life” bills because it helps the Democrats every time
It’s all or nothing with these Veruca Salts.
It’s far easier to work against abortion on the local level and then move on to help other states to support life than to try to eliminate abortion or regulate it on a national level.
Each success will spawn other successes until finally abortion is a thing of the past.
Exactly right. The Democrats are demonically fanatic about this. Where do you think all the pro-abortion money is going to go now that the fight has shifted to the states? They're going to bring out-of-state money to each state fight and knock out the pro-life movement one state at a time.
Meanwhile, local Republican politicians, not even having the backing of the national Party on this issue and with nowhere near the funding that these pro-death ghouls bring in, will not dare to say a peep about it.
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