DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Republicans may remove their pledge to ban abortion from their party platform for the first time in 40 years, at the request of former president Donald Trumpwho refused to support such a ban, even when take credit for the Overturning Roe v. Wade.
O platform is a statement of first principles traditionally written by party activists. The Trump campaign wants the group writing this year’s platform to produce a shorter document, without statements favored by many conservatives but potentially unpopular with the broader electorate.
The platform committee begins its meeting on Monday, a week before the start of the Republican National Convention, where Trump is expected to accept his third consecutive nomination for president.
Trump faced months of Democratic criticism of abortion as President Joe BidenTrump’s re-election campaign highlighted that Trump nominated half of the Supreme Court majority that struck down the national right to abortion in 2022. But among abortion opponents on the platform committee, some say the aspiration for a federal abortion ban after a Right The stage of pregnancy should remain a partisan principle, even if it is not an immediately achievable policy or one that will necessarily help Trump’s campaign in November.
“I see this as problematic. We still need these principles to be clearly stated. Some of these battles are not over yet,” said Iowa state Rep. Brad Sherman, a platform committee member who supported Trump’s winning campaign in Iowa in January and also supports a federal limit on abortion.
While the abortion statement is likely the most contested provision on the platform, there may also be disputes over Trump’s preference for tariffs it’s him isolationist approach to foreign policy and U.S. involvement in global conflicts, particularly in aiding Ukraine as it fights Russia.
Conservative activists who are used to having a seat at the table were outraged by what they considered to be a secret process for selecting committee members and the meeting taking place behind closed doors.
“For 40 years, the Republican Party and the Republican Party platform have benefited greatly from an open and transparent process,” said Tim Chapman, the new president of Advancing American Freedom, a foundation led by Trump’s former vice president, Mike Pence.
The Trump campaign sought to transform the Republican National Committee into a campaign vehicle. He signaled in a memo last month from senior campaign advisers Chris LaCivita and Susie Wiles that “textbook platforms … are scrutinized and intentionally misrepresented by our political opponents.”
Trump ally Russ Vought is serving as policy director for the Republican Party platform-writing committee while also leading the effort to develop the 180-day agenda for Project 2025, a comprehensive proposal to remake the government that Trump said on Friday he knew nothing about despite having several former advisors involved.
Still, the Trump campaign said it was unclear what would constitute the final document at the convention in Milwaukee, while also suggesting it would reflect Trump’s positions.
“Is the desire to make the platform concise and reflective of the president and his policies? Yes,” said Danielle Alvarez, Trump spokeswoman, in reference to the memo. “Until we come together, we don’t know where we will end up.”
Trump had supported federal legislation in 2018 this would have banned abortion after 20 weeks of pregnancy, although the measure did not gain the necessary support in the Senate.
However, after the 2022 midterm elections, Trump blamed Republicans who held strict anti-abortion positions for the party’s failure to secure a larger majority in the Chamber. Since then, he has criticized stricter abortion bans in each state.
An AP-NORC poll conducted in June 2023 found that about two-thirds of Americans think abortion should be legal in all or most cases. The poll also found that 6 in 10 Americans think Congress should pass a law that guarantees access to legal abortion nationwide.
Biden’s campaign criticized Republicans for making platform committee meetings in Milwaukee closed to the media and reminded voters of Trump’s past support for a 20-week abortion ban.
Tamara Scott, who is one of two Republican National Committee members from Iowa and also a member of the platform committee, said Trump could campaign in the position he holds and also adopt the platform to reflect a long-term goal of a federal cap.
“It’s our vision. These are our fundamental principles. It’s who we are as a party,” Scott said. “I agree that a platform should be clear and concise, but it should convey our core principles.”
For several committee members, that means maintaining support for an “amendment to the Constitution and legislation to make clear that the protections of the Fourteenth Amendment apply to children before birth,” the passage first included in 1984.
Trump was urged to keep that language in the platform, according to a letter signed by leaders of groups that oppose abortion, including Ralph Reed, founder and president of the Faith and Freedom Coalition; Tony Perkins, president of the Family Research Council; and Marjorie Dannenfelser, president of the Susan B. Anthony List.
That passage, once removed, would be difficult to restore on future platforms, Dannenfelser said.
“The conversation about the platform is about the future. These are presidential campaigns 10 years from now, and Senate campaigns and House campaigns, Republican campaigns everywhere,” Dannenfelser said. “It’s not just about this election. And that’s why it matters.”
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Associated Press writers Lisa Mascaro and Amelia Thomson-Deveaux contributed from Washington.
