Merely two full years after the historic Dobbs decision that overturned Roe v. Wade, the summer of 2024 has seen a sharp decline in protection for preborn Americans.
While the Democrat party has aligned itself more and more on the side of the culture of death – most notably seen in Planned Parenthood’s abortion mill on-wheels at the Democrat National Convention – its opponents in the Republican Party have shifted their focus to other national issues, such as the economy and the border, leaving the primary cause of personhood to the wayside.
GOP Platform Changes
In the drafting of the GOP party platform this year, the National Republican Party removed decades worth of statements regarding the sanctity of human life from their national platform.1 Though prior platforms did not argue for the complete equal protection of preborn children, important statements were previously included calling for a human life amendment and stopping taxpayer-funds from being used for abortions.
As of 2020, the pro-life language in the GOP’s platform amounted to upward of 1,300 words, reflecting the decades-long stance of the GOP grassroots toward protecting all life. In 2024, the pro-life language is now a mere 90 words, showing where the party of 2024’s priorities lie. In addition, many elected officials and Republican leaders likewise compromised on their abortion stances,2 and national pro-life groups have also offered their support of the platform’s new stance.3
Said Georgia Right to Life (GRTL) Intern Maddie Broome, “Ultimately, while the pro-life movement was not dismissed from the party’s platform, it has been effectively gutted. Although worded vaguely, the new platform seems to implement personhood for the preborn within the 14th Amendment, but no legislative federal plan is outlined in the GOP platform or even being discussed.”
Some Still Stand Strong
Not all pro-lifers have caved. In advance of the convention, Advancing American Freedom drafted and wrote a letter to the delegates encouraging them to stand for life, as well as another letter on July 15, which was signed by prominent pro-life activists, such as Lila Rose and Albert Mohler. In this letter, they outlined the party’s increasingly protective stance toward the preborn beginning in 1976, most of which was ultimately removed this summer from the Republican Platform for the first time since Roe. Georgia Right to Life supported this letter and its calls to “Support the Platform Committee’s Minority Report, amendments that strengthen the pro-life resolve of the platform, and to vote down any platform that weakens the party’s pro-life stance.”
A minority of members of the 2024 National Republican Platform Committee submitted a Minority Report, calling “for the continued protection of the unborn through support of a human life amendment.”
While the proposed minority report, spearheaded by Family Research Council, was not argued for on the convention floor, GRTL concurs heartily with the following statement contained therein, “In no season, under no rationale spurred by the exigencies of a political moment, can or should we abandon the high principles that have created and sustained this party, with God’s grace, into a third century.”4
“Don’t let this discourage you,” said Ricardo Davis, president of Georgia Right to Life. “While national groups and parties may waver in their support for the protection of all innocent human life, Georgia Right to Life remains steadfast. We will not waver when it comes to protecting life and will continue to advocate for equal protection and equal justice, from fertilization to natural, biological death.”
Battles on the Homefront
There are battles to fight everywhere. Georgia Senator John Ossoff’s “Human Rights” Subcommittee held a Senate hearing where it was argued that Georgia’s heartbeat law is harming women. In said hearing, doctors went from calling a preborn human being a baby to arguing that a mother should have the ability to consider an abortion due to a congenital heart defect.
GRTL believes that the supposed “quality of life” does not necessitate killing an innocent baby. When the mother has a medical condition needing treatment, doctors should seek to save both lives and not intentionally kill one.5
And, while GRTL praises God for closing an abortion mill in Georgia (Atlanta Women’s Clinic in Buckhead), the state of Georgia still has 13 active abortion mills open.6 This is why we need your support as GRTL seeks to add a Personhood Amendment to Georgia’s State Constitution (Sign here: https://tinyurl.com/grtlpetition) and pass the Georgia Prenatal Equal Protection Act.
GRTL will continue to bring its message of life to college campuses, churches, fairs, and conventions, as well as on pro-life billboards and via digital ads in the upcoming fall months. Over 240,000 women were reached in May 2024 alone with pro-life display and social media ads!
So…
Georgia Right to Life will not compromise. We remain steadfast and will continue to advocate for equal protection and equal justice, from fertilization to natural, biological death.
DONATE: Support our Mission Financially
ADVOCATE: Sign the Personhood Petition
“Daniel answered and said: ‘Blessed be the name of God forever and ever, to whom belong wisdom and might. He changes times and seasons; he removes kings and sets up kings; he gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to those who have understanding; he reveals deep and hidden things; he knows what is in the darkness, and the light dwells with him.’” – Daniel 2:20-22
Sources:
- Platform Changes
- Meet the Press Interview, Dana Bash Interview, Eric Trump Comments
- Life Advocates Support for New Platform
- FRC Action Letter
- Senator Ossoff Hearing
- Abortion Finder
Brooke Robyck
Georgia Right to Life
Project Coordinator
Rachel Krause
Georgia Right to Life
Newsletter Coordinator contributed to this article.