Female Republicans are all in for Trump’s abortion platform

Female delegates at the Republican National Convention backed former President Donald Trump’s move to put the legality of abortion back on the states without hesitation.

Abortion got little to no attention at the convention in Milwaukee last week, and it was all part of Mr. Trump’s platform — a much watered-down version of GOP policies from 2016 on social issues, especially surrounding abortion.

“The Republican Party isn’t trying to abolish abortion across America,” said Robyn Balcom, a delegate from Washington state. “We love the fact that, just as prescribed in our Constitution, the states get to make some of those rules, and you have the freedom to move within the United States.”

The 2016 platform mentioned the word “abortion” 35 times, according to Politico, and the 2024 platform mentions it just once.

“We will oppose Late Term Abortion, while supporting mothers and policies that advance Prenatal Care, access to Birth Control, and IVF (fertility treatments),” the platform says.

It’s a vast difference from past Republican platforms that consistently called for a national abortion ban, and it’s a decision that angered pro-life and conservative religious groups, who responded by not attending the convention.

“I personally believe that life begins at conception, and that’s my personal belief, but I’m not going to say you have to believe that because you have to make your decision,” said Ms. Balcom, 62. “I feel like the Republican Party has tried to be the big tent party. And for some of those people who don’t like that — too bad.”

Mr. Trump has often boasted about playing a role in the overturning of Roe v. Wade, by his appointing conservative justices to the Supreme Court.

“I think we are exactly where we kind of wanted to be,” said DeAnna Brangers, a delegate from Kentucky. “We’ve always argued that it’s a states rights issue, and now the states get to decide.”

“I feel like you get to where you thought the end zone was and I’m not going to move the goal post on that,” said Ms. Brangers, 55.

The Democratic Party has used the abortion issue as a key issue in their campaigns as a way to attract women, a demographic with which Republicans already struggle. Pew Research Center found that 55% of women voted for President Biden in 2020, and the last Republican to win the female vote in a presidential election was George H.W. Bush in 1988.

In particular, young women came out strong for Democratic candidates in the 2022 midterms. According to a CNN exit poll, 72% of women between 18-29 voted for Democrats in 2022 House races across the country.

But the step back from a national abortion ban by the GOP could be seen as enticing for some women who were on the fence about which party and candidate to support come November.

Madison Campbell, a 28-year-old alternate delegate from Pennsylvania who has spent time working with sexual-assault survivors, said it’s a “very difficult thing” for her to back Mr. Trump.

“I’m sure you can acknowledge why that might be a difficult thing for me to be here or to think about joining the Republican Party, with a lot of the allegations that have come up within the party, but when I think of a party that can maybe potentially do something different, I think about the Republican Party as it’s shifting and changing right now,” Ms. Campbell said.

She said that she likes the rhetoric change she’s seeing when it comes to women’s issues as a whole “that was not there in 2016 or 2020.”

“If you want women’s rights, if you care about sexual assault, if you care about these things, you’re going to look at [the party] and ask questions, and I think it’s very important that people ask questions before they vote,” she said. “But people asked me to give it a shot. I’ve met a lot of young women in the party as well, who said, ‘You know what, I understand where you’re coming from. Let me explain. Let me tell you our side of it,’ and I’m willing to hear both sides. I think that’s really important.”