As usual, politics in 2024 is an upside-down world. He said, she said, who knows where the truth lives amid the lies?
The Gateway Pundit published one of the clearest statements I've seen yet regarding the presidential candidates and their positions on abortion.
Practical federalism at its finest.
https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2024/08/frank-pavone-lets-stop-asking-wrong-questions-about/
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Frank Pavone: Let’s Stop Asking the Wrong Questions About Trump and Abortion
Recent headlines are all about Vice Presidential candidate J.D. Vance predicting on a Sunday morning talk show that, if re-elected, President Donald Trump would veto any national bill banning abortion.
As is so often the case with the legacy media, they were asking the wrong question.
So asking a question like NBC’s Kristen Welker asked is setting up a scenario that is totally devoid of reality.
Another unlikely scenario is a Democrat-controlled Congress sending to Trump the Women’s Health Protection Act, a radical piece of legislation that would undo every pro-life law in the nation.
I wonder why they didn’t ask about that.
I am still waiting for the interview in which the media ask about the actual pro-life measures that will be within the President’s power from day one, all of which he did in his first term. For instance:
- Will you reinstate the expanded Mexico City policy, which so efficiently kept U.S. tax dollars from flowing to abortion profiteers overseas?
- Will you reinstate the rule barring any organization that receives Title X funds for family planning from discussing abortion with their clients?
- Will you continue to appoint federal judges who understand that the right to life is fundamental to our Constitution?
- Will you have the United States once again sign on to the life-affirming Geneva Consensus Declaration?
- Will you again defund the U.N. Population Fund (UNFPA), which peddles abortion ideology in 150 nations?
- Will you reinstate the office of Conscience and Religious Freedom within the Department of Health and Human Services?
But, of course, the Trump-hating media are not interested in making the President seem reasonable to pro-life and pro-choice people alike, by reminding them that he supports pro-life measures that most Americans likewise support.
Anti-Trumpers don’t want to remind pro-life people of what he actually accomplished, because that might encourage rather than suppress the pro-life vote.
We already have the tools we need to change public policy in a second Trump term to better protect the unborn.
We need freedom of speech, so we can educate people on abortion; freedom of religion to activate churches to protect the unborn; freedom of assembly to allow for pro-life marches, rallies, protests and prayer vigils; and, importantly, existing pro-life laws, which actually keep some money away from abortion businesses and protect some babies.
These tools already are in our arsenal, but the Democrats want to take them away from us. They’re throwing peaceful pro-lifers in prison, censoring pro-life speech, trying to shut down pregnancy centers and canceling pro-life politicians.
President Trump is the best person to protect the tools we need in order to end abortion. We don’t need him to give pro-life speeches or commit to signing bills – like a national ban on abortion – that aren’t going to come to his desk in the first place.
We have to get him elected, because if the Democrats have their way, the pro-life movement will not have the political freedom to protect any babies.
And yet here we are, over the weekend and today, arguing on social media and in the press about whether we can support President Trump because, as some say, he’s “backing away” from the pro-life position.
In reality, the choice before us is not between President Trump and somebody better. It’s between President Trump and somebody worse. It’s between President Trump, who made it possible for states to protect the unborn, as many of them now do and will continue to do, and Kamala Harris, who wants to take away the ability of states to protect the unborn by making abortion a fundamental constitutional right.
I often say that mothers do not choose abortion because they have freedom of choice, but because they have no freedom and no choice. In this election, if we want to preserve our freedom to protect life, there is only one choice.
This Daily Signal commentary defends federalist strategy + pro-life goals in a way I haven't seen elsewhere. I like it: it makes me feel conservatives are regaining some of the ground that is their constitutional heritage.
https://www.dailysignal.com/2024/11/15/3-pro-life-policies-watch-trumps-second-term/
3 Pro-Life Policies to Watch for in Trump’s Second Term
Donald Trump is the most pro-life president in U.S. history. No other leader of the free world has matched his commitment to defending life, from defunding abortion providers to decisively reshaping the Supreme Court.
As we look to a second Trump term, two pro-life policies are likely to take center stage and immediately should be adopted.
A third—a national abortion ban—is not likely to get traction at this time.
1. Defund Planned Parenthood
Under President Joe Biden, Planned Parenthood received a record $750 million of taxpayer funding while performing a record 392,000 abortions just last year. The so-called nonprofit now gets roughly one-third of its total income from the federal government.
Defunding Planned Parenthood would be a major setback for the organization, which has already shown signs of mission drift and ineffective leadership in the post-Roe v. Wade era.
Since Cecile Richards left in 2018 after 12 years at the helm, the role of CEO at Planned Parenthood has become a chaotic evolving door, and the overturning of Roe didn’t help. The current leadership has been less effective in executing Planned Parenthood’s mission, as confirmed by both current and former employees.
In 2017, Trump sought to defund Planned Parenthood, but was blocked by then-Speaker of the House Paul Ryan and other Republicans lacking the political will and moral clarity to make it happen.
He revisited the idea in 2019 through Title X, which provides government funding to Planned Parenthood to distribute contraceptives and other so-called family planning. Just last month, shortly before the election, then-vice presidential candidate Sen. JD Vance, R-Ohio, affirmed the Republican ticket’s goal to defund Planned Parenthood under a second Trump administration.
This move also aligns with Trump’s stance that abortion is now a state issue and, therefore, federal funding should not be supporting it. Like many other nonprofits in the nation, Planned Parenthood should fund itself, rather than relying on federal handouts.
Additionally, we can expect Trump to both cut funding for Planned Parenthood International—Planned Parenthood’s arm in foreign countries—as he did in his first term, and reinstate the Mexico City Policy, one of his first actions as president in 2017, to prevent U.S. taxpayer dollars from funding overseas abortions.
2. Reregulating Abortion Pills
Following the overturning of Roe, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Food and Drug Administration dramatically expanded access to abortion pills by permitting them to be dispensed through pharmacies and even by mail, without requiring any in-person medical oversight.
Removing the need for a visit to a medical professional before taking these pills hardly qualifies as safe health care, likely contributing to the fact that 1 out of every 21 women who take them end up in the emergency room.
Reinstating basic regulations on abortion pills is a commonsense measure that even pro-abortion advocates once supported. Not least given the revelation of alarming medical statistics, it stands a strong chance of gaining traction with a Republican majority in Congress.
3. A National Abortion Ban
Since the Supreme Court chose not to apply the 14th Amendment to unborn children, abortion has been returned to the states. Although a federal abortion ban was quickly brought into the conversation, Trump has consistently stated he would not pursue one, and there’s no reason to expect he’d go back on his word.
Calls for a 15-week ban—an arbitrary gestational threshold—were considered, but ultimately rejected, by Trump. In a post-Roe America, where 25 states have already enacted strong pro-life laws, a 15-week ban would undermine their more protective legislation already in place, signaling weakness rather than progress. A 15-week ban would become the standard in all of those pro-life states that have already saved tens of thousands of babies with stricter bans or heartbeat bills that prevent abortions after six weeks of pregnancy.
Trump is sometimes accused of not listening to advisers, but the pro-life movement’s experience has shown otherwise. As a candidate, Trump admitted his limited knowledge of abortion, but took the time to educate himself. He listened to pro-life champions and accepted critical guidance from Federalist Society Chairman Leonard Leo and other Catholic leaders on Supreme Court nominations. This led directly to the overturning of Roe, an event many pro-life Americans never thought they’d witness.
In a second term, Trump is poised to remain a steadfast pro-life president. While pro-life Americans shouldn’t give him a free pass, it would be reckless and disrespectful to ignore his remarkable record.
Trump has demonstrated his commitment to the pro-life cause, and there’s every reason to believe he will govern with those values at the forefront once again.
Shawn Carney is president and CEO of the pro-life organization 40 Days for Life and the author of “What to Say When 2: Your Proven Guide in the New Abortion Landscape.”
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