Posted on 09/19/2023 3:22:16 PM PDT by SoConPubbie
Photo: Alamy
In June 2022, the long-standing infamous Supreme Court ruling of Roe v. Wade and its subsequent reaffirmation in Planned Parenthood v. Casey was dashed to pieces when three newly appointed Supreme Court justices tipped the scales forever in a victory for life.
With the overturning of Roe v. Wade, federal protection for abortion was terminated, answering the prayers of millions of conservatives, people of faith, and passionate pro-life advocates across the nation. The fall of Roe v. Wade was nothing short of a miracle for proponents of the pro-life movement, and it is a victory for life that should never be understated.
Now, the abortion argument has been resigned to the sovereign states, giving pro-life advocates and conservatives a powerful negotiating tool for crafting life-saving legislation.
It is a fact that President Donald Trump was responsible for appointing three conservative Supreme Court justices while he was in office, providing a pathway toward overturning Roe v. Wade. It is also a fact that President Trump remains the first and only sitting president to ever attend the March for Life rally in Washington, D.C.
In one term of his presidency, President Trump easily did more for the pro-life movement than many other so-called conservative presidents did in decades. This is indisputable. Despite his success in bridging the gap between hard-left pro-choice advocates and supporters of the pro-life movement, cancel culture has come for Trump once again – but the arguments against him are falling flat.
Trump understands how to win on this topic
President Trump sat down over the weekend with NBC’s “Meet the Press,” where he discussed Joe Biden, policy, and his 2024 presidential bid. In a question regarding whether he would sign a 15-week federal ban on abortion, Trump stated that as president again, he would sit down with “both sides” and negotiate a deal that would result in “peace on that issue for the first time in 52 years.”
He additionally pointed out that Gov. DeSantis’s, R-Fla., decision to sign a six-week ban on abortion was a “terrible mistake,” referring to the political ramifications on a national scale.
These comments drew the ire of conservative commenters and disgruntled social media users, who were quick to label Trump as someone who was advocating for the murder of babies in the womb.
However, to paint Trump as an advocate of abortion is not simply disingenuous but wholly untrue. It also purposely fails to acknowledge the political context of his comments, of which he has always been crystal clear. Trump has unilaterally been transparent that he is “pro-life” with the three exceptions of rape, incest, and the life of the mother, per Politico. Some pro-life advocates may disagree with his three exceptions rule, but it is a fact that he has never changed his stance since 2016.
The president has also strongly condemned “abortion-on-demand” and late-term abortions.
This summer, he reaffirmed his commitment to protecting babies in the womb during remarks delivered at the Faith and Freedom Coalition’s “Road to Majority” conference in Washington, D.C.
“I will continue to fight against the demented late-term abortionists in the Democrat Party who believe in unlimited abortion-on-demand and even executing babies after BIRTH,” he said.
Over the weekend, the president delivered keynote remarks at the CWALAC’s Leadership Summit in D.C., addressing the political battleground of abortion in the United States today. He explained, “We can win elections on this issue, but it’s very delicate and explaining it properly is an extremely important thing. You have to be able to speak and explain it properly. A lot of politicians who are pro-life don’t know how to discuss this topic.”
He’s right. According to a 2023 Gallup poll, 51 percent of Americans today believe that abortion should be legal “only under certain circumstances,” while only 13 percent believe that “it should be illegal in all circumstances.”
Like it or not, the country is deeply divided on the issue of abortion, and if conservatives fail to negotiate on this issue properly, Republicans will not only lose the White House in 2024 – they will lose every election afterward. And, in the face of an overreaching and tyrannical Biden regime, it is unthinkable that conservatives would allow Democrats to win on the issue of abortion simply because they are unwilling to strategically assess the modern political landscape.
One battle at a time wins the war
Hardline pro-life advocates staunchly push for the full termination of abortion in all 50 states. For those who value lives in the womb, this is a reasonable goal to work toward.
Pro-choice advocates, by contrast, would like to see a return to nationwide federal protection on abortion. In a nation where only 13 percent of Americans want to see abortion outlawed, there is no viable political path to the White House at this time without some compromise on the issue of abortion. This is a sad but stark fact. Trump alone seems to understand this.
Populist news account Election Wizard explained it like this: “Trump, the most pro-life POTUS, is trying to lead pro-lifers away from snatching defeat from the jaws of victory. Making abortion a non-issue in 2024 is a smart play. Since Dobbs, the Red states of KS, KY, MT, and OH put abortion bans on the ballot. All of them failed.”
This is an astute observation, and it echoes Trump’s comments in his “Meet the Press” interview, where he said he would “bring peace on that issue” for the first time in decades. And, looking at Trump’s history of brokering stunning peace deals across the world during his presidency, there can be no doubt that he has the skill and the experience to negotiate a federal abortion ban that would save the lives of millions of babies.
The alternative to electing a great negotiator like Trump, who has expertly captured the majority support of the populist electorate in the country, is to allow Democrats to sway Independent voters (who currently favor Trump) and to hand a victory to Joe Biden. If this happens, the United States as we know it will fall deeper into tyranny, and Americans everywhere can kiss the possibility of continuing to work toward saving unborn babies goodbye.
In America today, the abortion issue must be won battle by battle, not war by war. Conservatives would do well to heed Trump’s strategy here to save the country from total ideological and political obliteration at the hands of an ever-encroaching federal machine.
Absolutely true. No one has done more for the pro-life movement in the past 50 years than Donald Trump.
I am glad Trump is getting called out for his comments. I hope he takes a lot of heat for it.
Reagan did a great job with the economy and the Soviet Union.
But can you name 3 other people in USA that has given so much to abortion than he did?
No, Reagen did not convert to Pro Life, at least not in any meaningful way. He made a political calculation. He was no different from Bush, Romney, and a hundred other politicians after him. His appointees show he remained Pro Choice or apathetic to the end.
It is like the parable of the servant who said “I will not do what you asked me” But then did it vs the servant who said “I will not do what you told me to do” but then did what he was told.
“... bible thumping one issue morons ...”
Um. What?
More pro-life than the Founding Fathers? I find that hard to believe.
A real pro-life president would never have pushed a deadly vaxx on the nation.
Politics is the art of what is possible. And as much as I’d like to see a total ban on abortion it’s simply not possible politically at this time.
So we take what we can get and work incrementally towards the goal.
Demanding everything right now is a sure way to lose. And we simply cannot afford to lose this election. There is too much at stake.
So you feel free to stomp your little feet and stay home.
We not only don’t need you, you’re an impediment.
L
“...his recent pro abort comments can’t be unsaid.”
Evidently, you only got the deceptive NBC chopped up parts from the interview.
“Regan never reverted back to a pro-abort like Trump now has done.”
You lie, lie on purpose, and you just mentioned angry Trump supporters?
Myself, I never support those who tollerate mass murder.
Trump says he will.
Very sad, but Trump has lost me.
How can you be pro-life and pro-choice at the same time?
You make the call. In the meantime - educate yourself with this info...
WASHINGTON (BP)–In 1983, President Ronald Reagan wrote an essay on abortion that pro-life advocates quote to this day.
He defended the life of the unborn in the essay, predicted that the nation’s opinion on abortion eventually would change and expressed his desire to see Roe v. Wade overturned.
“He probably did more than any other one politician to put the pro-life agenda on the radar screen of the nation,” Richard Land, head of the Southern Baptist Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission, told Baptist Press.
Reagan’s essay, “Abortion and the Conscience of the Nation,” was first published in The Human Life Review journal and eventually published in a book. The book, also called “Abortion and the Conscience of the Nation,” was published again in 2001.
“We cannot diminish the value of one category of human life — the unborn — without diminishing the value of all human life,” Reagan, who died June 5, wrote.
The book served as an encouragement to pro-family groups, who saw their nation’s president go against the advice of some by publicly tackling a controversial issue.
“Despite the formidable obstacles before us, we must not lose heart,” Reagan wrote. “This is not the first time our country has been divided by a Supreme Court decision that denied the value of certain human lives. The Dred Scott decision of 1857 was not overturned in a day, or a year, or even a decade.”
Over time in the 1800s, Reagan asserted, Americans began to see the evil of slavery. Similarly, minds will change when people learn about the evil of abortion, he said.
“[T]he great majority of the American people have not yet made their voices heard, and we cannot expect them to — any more than the public voice arose against slavery — until the issue is clearly framed and presented,” Reagan wrote.
As governor of California, Reagan disappointed pro-lifers by signing a bill easing restrictions to abortion. It was an action, though, he later regretted.
Land said that as president, Reagan was “a voice crying in the wilderness in Washington, D.C., for the pro-life cause.”
“I think that Ronald Reagan’s election was the culmination of the evangelical Christian movement from non-involvement to involvement,” Land said. “[But] they were active before that. They were registering lots and lots of voters in 1976. And many of them supported Ronald Reagan when he ran for president against Gerald Ford in 1976.”
Reagan further won the praise of evangelicals when he spoke at a gathering called the National Affairs Briefing in 1980, Land said.
“This was a huge gathering in Reunion Arena of pro-life and pro-family activists and he said, ‘I understand that you can’t endorse me, but I’m here to endorse you’ — to thunderous applause,” Land said.
Sadly, Land said, two of Reagan’s nominations to the Supreme Court have not shared his views on abortion. Sandra Day O’Connor and Anthony Kennedy both have signed on to opinions upholding the Roe v. Wade decision, although Kennedy did side with pro-lifers in the 2000 partial-birth abortion case. A third justice, Antonin Scalia, has sided with pro-family groups on most issues.
“I think the president would be extremely disappointed in some of his nominees to the Supreme Court, just as George [H.W.] Bush is, I’m sure, disappointed with Justice [David] Souter,” Land said. “One of the problems with court nominations is you have to be very, very certain about who it is you pick or else they can change on you.
“There is no question that Justice Scalia is what he would like for his judicial legacy to be. Unfortunately, it also involves Sandra Day O’Connor and Kennedy.”
Reagan’s nomination of Kennedy came only after his first choice, Robert Bork, failed to win Senate confirmation in 1987. Bork’s judicial philosophy is more in line with Scalia’s.
Land said that in hindsight Bork might have won confirmation in 1986, when a seat opened and when Republicans held the Senate. Instead, Reagan chose to nominate Scalia for that opening, and he was confirmed with ease only months before Democrats won back the Senate. The next year, they led the charge to defeat Bork.
“But President Reagan wanted to put the first woman on the court [O’Connor] and he wanted to put the first Italian-American on the court [Scalia],” Land said.
Reagan’s biggest legacy, Land said, is the downfall of the Soviet Union and the ending of the Cold War.
“What greater legacy could you leave — for Americans in general and families in particular — in that I don’t have to worry about my children being incinerated in a nuclear holocaust,” Land said. “Why? Because of Ronald Reagan.”
The Cold War had a great impact on families, Land said, because it affected their safety and security.
“His strategy was to win the Cold War — not contain the Soviets … but to defeat the Soviets, and he did it without firing a single shot,” Land said. “The Soviet empire did not collapse. It was pushed, and Ronald Reagan was the one doing the pushing.”
Also see.
ABORTION AND THE
CONSCIENCE OF THE
NATION
And From 1988....
Remarks to Participants in the March for Life Rally
And...
People keep conflating their personal views of abortion, with how we deal with abortion in our political system.
I think just about all Freepers are against abortion. The question is what do we do about abortion ,since it must be dealt with in our political system.
Desantis is coming back any day now...just wait till the second debate...Trump is finished he is so pro-choice...he is not a real conservative...
NOTE: In case you don’t get, read again.
Um. What?
He means conservatives. There was a time when pro-aborts would be zotted on site if they expressed the kind of hatred now common against conservatives.
But times have changed. Just like Trump is now tolerant and wants to negotiate with democrats - FR allows this open pro-abortion rhetoric.
“As governor of California, Reagan disappointed pro-lifers by signing a bill easing restrictions to abortion. It was an action, though, he later regretted.”
He signed an order sentencing tens of thousands of babies to death and his response is “I regret it?”
No serious effort to undo Roe vs Wade? Just writes an article about how prolife he was and how much he loved unborn babies. Ridiculous
So we take what we can get and work incrementally towards the goal.
You know what? You're absolutely right. In the idea that it's OK to trade babies for votes.
But go along with Trump and his plans to negotiate with democrats over this abortion issue. Go ahead and blast Florida and it's "terrible" anti-abortion policy. Go ahead and sit back while more abortions continue because it's not "possibly political" at this time.
Pro-life positions are increasing all over the country. So why is Trump opposing this?
Let's go to the tape....
He additionally pointed out that Gov. DeSantis’s, R-Fla., decision to sign a six-week ban on abortion was a “terrible mistake,” referring to the political ramifications on a national scale.
Don't blame NBC for what Trump said.
I didn’t realize you were authorized to speak for me. In case you’re of the opinion you’re a mind reader, I’d keep your day job if I were you.
No, people who are doing the best they can to erase abortion from our lexicon understand how the process works in our current society.
What’s hilarious to me is, you’re preening and whining continues to get no results, whereas President Trump delivered the best results concerning abortion and Pro Life EVER. And seeing you’re a TDS sufferer, this must agitate you to no end and no reason or logic will ever allow you to face reality.
If Jim wants me to leave, all he has to do is say so and I’m gone.
I lie? I lied when I said Trump was once pro-choice?
https://www.nbcnews.com/meet-the-press/video/trump-in-1999-i-am-very-pro-choice-480297539914
I could post many more links like this if you like. Or better yet - YOU go do your own research. And quit your lying.
Yes, I took liberty with an all encompassing description that isn't particularly apt.
I agree the Florida comments were a prime example of Trump getting in his own way. He had a chance to say “what’s right for Florida is right for Florida but perhaps not everywhere else.” Instead, because his opponent signed the law he stepped on his wang and pissed off a lot of pro lifers.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.