Republican New Platform Adopts Softened Language On Abortion

On Monday, the Republican National Committee’s platform committee approved a revised GOP platform that features softer language regarding abortion, a key issue for many voters, reflecting a shift toward aligning more closely with former president Donald Trump‘s views.

The full RNC membership will vote to officially confirm the platform at next week’s convention in Milwaukee.

The new platform states that Republicans “will oppose late-term abortion while supporting mothers and policies that advance prenatal care, access to birth control and IVF (fertility treatments).”

The brief abortion section also asserts that the GOP “believes” that the 14th Amendment to the Constitution “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,” supporting Trump’s view that the issue should be decided at the state level.

After the platform committee approved the revised party platform, now more aligned with Trump’s political stance, he expressed his approval for the new GOP draft on social media.

“Ours is a forward-looking agenda with strong promises that we will accomplish very quickly when we win the White House and Republican majorities in the House and Senate. We are, quite simply, the party of common sense! America needs determined Republican leadership at every level of government to address the core threats to our very survival,” Trump wrote.

Monday’s move by the committee marks a departure from the GOP’s 2016 and 2020 platforms, which supported a 20-week federal abortion ban, a stance Trump campaigned on in both cycles.

In 2016, the Republican Party adopted a strict conservative platform on gender and sexual orientation issues, despite efforts by some of its more moderate factions to soften the language.

The same platform was approved in 2020, as the COVID-19 pandemic hindered the party committee from convening to revise the language.

Since the 1980s, the Republican platform has supported a constitutional amendment affirming the sanctity and protection of human life, including unborn children. The 2024 platform marks the first time in 40 years that the RNC has not explicitly endorsed a national abortion ban in its platform.

However, the issue of abortion is regulated to the end of the platform document and is not among the platform’s prioritized 20 principles.

The top two priorities include a call to “seal the border” and “carry out the largest deportation operation in American history.” These are followed by goals to “end inflation” and “make America the dominant energy producer in the world.”

Other points include “large tax cuts for workers and no tax on tips,” “defend our Constitution” and “prevent World War III” by restoring peace in Europe and the Middle East and halting government “weaponization.”

While Trump’s stance on reproductive rights has raised concerns among some anti-abortion activists and RNC members, committee members have noted a consensus on the language, including support from conservative anti-abortion members.

“It is important that the GOP reaffirmed its commitment to protect unborn life today through the 14th Amendment…The Republican Party remains strongly pro-life at the national level. The mission of the pro-life movement, for the next six months, must be to defeat the Biden-Harris extreme abortion agenda,” said SBA Pro-Life America President Marjorie Dannenfelser, a major anti-abortion leader, after the vote.

However, other platform committee members have voiced disappointment with how abortion was addressed.

“This is the first time we don’t have a pro-life platform. The platform simply says we oppose late-term abortion. Well, what about before that?” questioned RNC platform member Gayle Ruzicka.