Republicans put aside abortion disagreements at ‘unity’ convention

Edna Wales, a Republican delegate from Florida, is not in favor of abortion. As a Roman Catholic, the procedure goes against her moral values.

But her political position, she told the BBC at a street fair at the Republican National Convention, was that that task should be left to the states. “I really think so,” she said.

Banning abortion nationwide has been a hot topic for religious Republicans for decades, so it was a surprising position to hear Wales speak at this weeklong gathering. Yet Wales’s position is the same one that Donald Trump, the party’s presidential nominee, is now championing.

The former president boasted about appointing a U.S. Supreme Court bench that struck down the constitutional right to abortion. The 2022 decision upended the landscape of abortion access in the United States, with some Republican-led states quickly banning or limiting the procedure while other Democratic-controlled states moved to protect access.

After months of discussion and debate, Trump has publicly backtracked, saying abortion should now be left to the states. While the party appears aligned with its candidate (one of the key themes of this week’s convention was “unity”), beneath the surface, some light has emerged between Trump’s Republican Party and the most ardent members of the anti-abortion movement who want to see the procedure abolished nationwide.

“I think where President Trump and the pro-life movement are right now, it could be a schism,” said Marc Short, who was chief of staff to former Vice President Mike Pence – one of the party’s most vocal anti-abortion politicians.

Trump’s stance may well be a political calculation, given that polls suggest that the majority of Americans support abortion access. The end of Roe v. Wade also gave Democrats a major political issue to campaign on: protecting abortion access. They performed better than expected in the 2022 midterm elections, and many pollsters and pundits attributed that to the abortion issue.

Trump supporters at the Milwaukee convention told the BBC they appreciated his pragmatism. “I understand why he has to be so careful about how he handles (abortion) because he’s running for president,” Wales said.

She said she thought the pressure on Trump from the right was unfair because “a lot of people are against abortion. You know, a lot of people are for abortion, and it’s a very touchy subject.”

Internal tensions over the issue came to a head with the release of the Republican Party’s 2024 platform, which outlines its policies and positions on a variety of key issues.

In 2016, and again in 2020, its abortion division promised to appoint anti-abortion judges, defund Planned Parenthood, and called for adding a “human life amendment” to the Constitution.

This year, the abortion section underwent a major overhaul.

The abortion section was cut from 775 words to 90. The four-sentence oath promises to defend life and oppose “late-term abortion.”

The 14th Amendment to the United States Constitution “guarantees that no person shall be denied life or liberty without due process of law, and that the States are free to make laws protecting these rights.” It then adds, “By us this power was given to the States and the vote of the people.”

Milwaukee Republicans didn’t disagree much with the new text and threw their weight behind their candidate. “I agree with you, it should be up to the states to decide,” said Maria Rodriguez of Georgia, a self-described “pro-life Christian” who joined the Republican Party because of her opposition to abortion.

“I don’t think this is something that should be done on a national scale,” said Jackie Canon, a delegate from Louisiana. “I think it should be done state by state.”

But these changes have also sparked some anger.

Mr Short told the BBC that religious conservatives were “disappointed” by the platform’s stance on abortion, and that some had seen the end of Roe v Wade as a “first step”.

His former boss, Mike Pence, was one of them, calling the platform a “profound disappointment” that removed “the historic pro-life principles that have long been the foundation of the platform.”

“They screwed us,” Gail Ruzicka, who was on the RNC platform committee, told WISN Milwaukee. “I’m extremely disappointed that we don’t have any pro-life language.”

At first glance, the 2024 abortion agenda appears to reflect Trump’s new, more moderate stance, which places responsibility on states. Those who have paid close attention have seen something different.

“This platform is not going to win any awards for oratory,” said Kristi Hamrick, vice president of policy for Students for Life, one of the nation’s largest anti-abortion organizations. But, she added, the platform gave us “what we asked for.”

“The 14th Amendment is the legal foundation upon which we must build a new, more pro-life America,” she said. “This is a victory.”

For years, anti-abortion activists have invoked the 14th Amendment to demand that fetuses be given the same rights as other Americans. In this view, the federal ban on abortion is already enshrined in the Constitution and no new amendment or law is needed.

“Invoking the 14th Amendment to protect ‘every life’ is clearly an appeal to fetal personhood,” said Rachel Rebouché, dean and professor of law at Temple University School of Law and a leading expert on reproductive health law. “That must be the ultimate goal.”

In other words, what looked like a softening of language on abortion could actually be interpreted as a possible path to a nationwide ban.

Most of the national leaders of the anti-abortion movement joined Ms. Hamrick in applauding the platform. Marjorie Dannenfelser of Susan B Anthony Pro-Life America, John Mize of Americans United for Life and Ralph Reed of the Faith and Freedom Coalition all signed a letter pledging their support for the platform.

Experts say any confusion was likely intentional, a sign of a party juggling a socially conservative base while also trying to appeal to moderate voters who broadly support abortion access.

“There are really two mutually incompatible groups of voters that the GOP is trying to appeal to on the abortion issue,” said Mary Ziegler, a historian and law professor at the University of California, Davis, and a leading expert on the abortion debate.

“I think the platform was designed to appease all these people … and you can’t really do that by being clear,” she said. “I think confusion is the best strategy that’s come up.”

Even skeptical Republicans here in Milwaukee are lining up behind Trump on the abortion issue, a sign of the grip he has on the Republican Party.

Former US Senator Rick Santorum, a prominent anti-abortion politician, told the BBC at the convention that he was “obviously disappointed” by the party’s new platform “but Donald Trump is a staunch pro-life president”.

He expected there would be more debate about abortion within the party in the years to come, but with Trump about to be crowned the nominee, he said now was not the time.

“I’m not sure it’s a big battle right now,” he said.