(MILWAUKEE) — The Republican National Committee’s platform committee has adopted a policy document that reflects former President Donald Trump’s stance on opposing a federal ban on abortion and ceding limits to the states, omitting the explicit basis for a national ban on abortion. first time in 40 years.
The committee, according to two people briefed on the text, agreed with the text: “We believe that the 14th Amendment to the Constitution of the United States guarantees that no person may be denied life or liberty without due process and that the states They are therefore free to pass laws that protect these rights.”
Two leading anti-abortion activists spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss internal party deliberations.
The move comes as Trump imposes his priorities on the committee while seeking to avoid strict abortion language while taking credit for creating the 2022 reversal of Roe v. Wade. Wade by the Supreme Court. Trump appointed three of the six justices who voted overwhelmingly to overturn the 1973 abortion rights precedent.
The abortion language was first reported by The New York Times.
Marjorie Dannenfelser, president of SBA Pro-Life America, praised the committee for reaffirming “its commitment to protecting unborn life through the 14th Amendment.”
Dannenfelser stopped short of endorsing the document’s reflection of Trump’s view that the matter is entirely up to the States. “Under this amendment, Congress enacts and enforces its provisions.”
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The 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 that excludes statements favored by many conservatives but that are potentially unpopular with the broader electorate.
The platform committee begins its meeting on Monday, a week before the start of the Republican National Convention in Wisconsin, where Trump is expected to accept his third consecutive nomination for president.
Trump has faced months of Democratic criticism over abortion, as President Joe Biden’s reelection campaign highlighted that Trump nominated half of the Supreme Court majority that struck down the nation’s right to abortion in 2022. But among abortion opponents on the platform committee , some say the aspiration for a federal ban on abortion after a certain stage of pregnancy should remain a party tenet, 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 and his isolationist approach to foreign policy and U.S. involvement in global conflicts, particularly aid to Ukraine while it fight against 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 GOP platform-writing committee while also leading the effort to write the 180-day agenda for Project 2025, a sweeping proposal to remake government which Trump said on Friday he knew “nothing about” despite having several former aides involved.
Trump supported federal legislation in 2018 that would ban abortion after 20 weeks of pregnancy, although the measure fell short of the necessary support in the Senate.
However, following the 2022 midterm elections, Trump blamed Republicans holding strict anti-abortion positions for the party’s failure to secure a larger House majority. Since then, he has criticized stricter abortion bans in each state.
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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, Wisconsin, 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 Dannenfelser, Ralph Reed, founder and president of the Faith and Freedom Coalition; Tony Perkins, president of the Family Research Council.
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.
This story originally appeared on Time.com read the full story
