The Republican Party of the United States released its platform on Monday (8), denying anti-abortion activists more comprehensive language they demanded on ways to restrict termination of pregnancy and embracing views of its presidential candidate, Donald Trump.
The platform, a formal declaration of the party’s objectives, contains Trump’s position considering that the issue of abortion must be determined individually by each US state. It does not mention a federal ban or the protection of the fetus as a person under the Constitution — principles included in previous platforms and demanded by a group of influential evangelicals.
The non-binding platform also promises that Trump and Republicans will build a missile defense shield over the United States, carry out the “largest deportation in American history” of undocumented migrants, make permanent tax cuts for Trump and pass “massive tax cuts for workers,” while also wanting to eliminate drug cartels, protect Medicare and social benefits, and defend the use of public money for private school tuition.
All of them, policies defended by Trump in the campaign, which highlights his control over the party before next week’s convention in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. At that time, he will be formally nominated to face President Joe Biden in the November 5 election.
Trump joined the platform committee meeting via phone call on Monday and spoke for about 15 to 20 minutes, according to Ben Proto, a member of the committee from Connecticut, where he serves as state party chairman.
“Virtually everyone on the committee understood that this was his document,” Proto said.
“This is your vision. It aligns very well, obviously, with a lot of Republican positions.”
Conservatives in the moral camp sent a letter to Trump last month asking him to preserve the language of previous platforms, calling for a “human life amendment to the Constitution and legislation to make clear that the protections of the Fourteenth Amendment apply to children before from birth”.
The new platform doesn’t go as far. It just says that states are now free to pass laws in accordance with the Constitution and the Supreme Court’s 2022 decision to roll back a woman’s right to abortion and allow states to impose stricter restrictions.
It doesn’t mention federal regulations on the abortion pill mifepristone — which some anti-abortion groups also want to restrict — and says the party supports policies promoting in vitro fertilization treatments, contraception and prenatal care.
Marjorie Dannenfelser, president of the group Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America, which had warned the Trump campaign last week that its long-standing political alliance with conservatives was at risk if the party adopted a watered-down stance on abortion, said in a statement that the party reaffirmed its commitment to protecting life before birth.
The Biden campaign condemned the platform’s abortion stance as extreme.
“Donald Trump has made clear, in his own words and actions, what he will do if he regains power — he will take away women’s freedoms, punish women and ban abortion nationally,” spokeswoman Sarafina Chitika said in a statement.
The Trump campaign had indicated that it wanted a simpler document than in the past, with a clear definition of Trump’s priorities if elected, without jargon from specific interest groups.
“President Trump’s 2024 Republican Party Platform articulates his vision to ‘Make America Great Again’ in a concise and digestible way for all voters,” Trump campaign senior advisers Chris LaCivita and Susie Wiles said in a statement.
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