Former Vice President Mike Pence is calling on delegates to the Republican National Convention to restore pro-life language to the GOP platform to erase any doubt about the party’s commitment to the sanctity of life.
The demand came after the RNC’s platform committee approved a Trump-inspired proposal this week that dropped the party’s previous embrace of a human life amendment to the Constitution and a 20-week federal ban on most abortions.
“Now is not the time to surrender any ground in the fight for the right to life,” Mr. Pence said in a statement Tuesday. “The 2024 platform removed historic pro-life principles that have long been the foundation of the platform. I urge delegates attending next week’s Republican Convention to restore language to our party’s platform recognizing the sanctity of human life and affirming that the unborn child has a fundamental right to life which cannot be infringed.”
Mr. Pence finds himself on the outside looking in after serving four years as Mr. Trump’s loyal sidekick. The relationship turned cold after Mr. Pence — citing Constitutional restraints — refused to bow to Mr. Trump’s demand that he block the certification of the 2020 election results.
The issue of life, meanwhile, has been a bedrock of Mr. Pence’s political career. Indeed, Mr. Trump trapped Mr. Trump as his wingman in 2016 in part to reassure social and religious conservatives that his administration could be trusted to fight for the pro-life cause.
Meanwhile, Mr. Trump has touted his nomination of Supreme Court justices who sided with the majority ruling overturning Roe v Wade in 2022. He has said the states, not the federal government, should now hash out the issue.
His stance is reflected in the updated GOP platform, which delegates will vote on next week. President Biden and Democrats are campaigning on the argument that Mr. Trump and the GOP are extremists on abortion and will push for a nationwide ban.
Mr. Pence said the GOP’s platform “is part of a broader retreat in our party” that is being done for “political expedience.”
“The updated platform also cedes this fight to the states, leaving the unborn in California and Illinois to the far left’s extremist abortion policies,” he said. “The right to life is not only a state issue; it is a moral issue, and our party must continue to speak with moral clarity and compassion about advancing the cause of life at the federal, state and local level.”
The platform that the full RNC is set to take up next week says, “We proudly stand for families and Life.”
“We believe that the 14th Amendment to the Constitution of the United States guarantees that no person can be denied Life or Liberty without Due Process, and that the States are, therefore, free to pass Laws protecting those Rights,” the platform reads. “After 51 years, because of us, that power has been given to the States and to a vote of the People.”
• Seth McLaughlin can be reached at smclaughlin@washingtontimes.com.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.