2017: The year a pro-life president, public can make a difference

Every January, tens of thousands of people across the United States commemorate the anniversary of Roe v. Wade by praying and marching for an end to abortion.  

Throughout the year, these same people are finding ways to combat the devastation that legalized abortion has wreaked on our nation — with an estimated 57 million aborted and many of the men and women involved in that decision hurting.  

{mosads}This is why the latest Knights of Columbus/Marist Poll shows nearly 6 in 10 Americans (59 percent) agree that abortion is morally wrong.

2017 could well be the year that abortion politics is forever changed in the United States.  However, this will only happen to the extent that those who are pro-life remain engaged throughout the entire year.

Pro-lifers March for Life in January, but do they contact local representatives and work to build a culture of life in their local communities for the rest of the year?

Legislatively, there will be a number of opportunities for individuals to get involved; this week was a perfect example. On Tuesday, the U.S. House of Representatives voted on No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion Act – legislation that completely separates U.S. taxpayers from subsidizing the abortion industry.

The people, the local communities, were behind the success of that legislation. In days ahead, we are also expecting efforts to defund the nation’s largest abortion provider, Planned Parenthood.  

March for Life: A rally America’s first feminists would have joinedhttps://t.co/j0yUJP5wOx @March_for_Life @LilaGraceRose pic.twitter.com/JcVhZXvtWD

— TheHillOpinion (@TheHillOpinion) January 26, 2017

The abortion-giant receives over half-a-billion dollars from government monies every year, and the majority of Americans — as evident in the recent Marist poll shows — do not want their taxpayer dollars supporting abortion.

KofC/Marist Poll also found that 61 percent of Americans oppose the use of tax dollars to fund abortions in the United States — this includes almost 9 in 10 Trump supporters and even nearly 4 in 10 Clinton supporters.  

This recent poll also found that most Americans disagree with Planned Parenthood’s stance of abortion on demand; there is a clear bi-partisan consensus on limiting abortion to — at most — the first trimester, with 55 percent of Clinton supporters and 91 percent of Trump supporters saying they support such limits.

But, how does President Donald Trump play into all of this?

In early February, President Trump will nominate a new U.S. Supreme Court Justice.  

Since Roe v. Wade legalized abortion in all states and through all three trimesters in 1973, Republican presidents have had a 50 percent record of nominating Supreme Court judges who are constitutionalists.  

President Trump needs to be bold if he truly thinks as many legal scholars on the left and right, that Roe v. Wade was a decision of judicial activism and wrongly decided.  

Further, President Trump needs to reinstate conscience protections dismantled under his predecessor. Across the U.S. health care professionals are being forced to participate in an abortion or lose their job.  While it will be great when President Trump moves to protect these individuals, the United States is a nation of laws — not of regulations.  

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— March for Life (@March_for_Life) November 14, 2016

Congress should pass legislation that permanently protects the conscience rights of all Americans, including medical professionals — a move, according to the aforementioned KofC/Marist poll, that is supported by at least 60 percent of U.S. citizens.

Simultaneously, Congress needs to hear from their constituents that any replacement for the Affordable Care Act needs to be pro-life and, if possible, bipartisan.  

We need to see a vote on consensus legislation such as the Pain Capable Unborn Child Protection Act.  A robust pro-life agenda in the new Congress could help increase the pro-life Senate majority in 2018.

If President Trump’s support remains strong, the mid-term elections will present an opportunity for a  60-vote majority of pro-life senators. This strategy, however, requires more than just difficult votes for pro-abortion senators; Congress should hold more hearings on pro-life legislation throughout the year.  

With two decades of bipartisan Congressional failures related to budget, American taxpayers have been stuck with 20th Century pro-life provisions in a 21st Century world. 

Without the proper appropriations process, much needed pro-life provisions, such as protecting the conscience rights of Californians currently forced by the state to to pay for abortions, risks being eliminated in eleventh hour bills.  

In addition, since the formation of the Department of Homeland Security in 2003, abortions for immigrants in custody have been covered by taxpayer dollars. Since the passage of Obamacare in 2010 Congressional staff have coverage of taxpayer subsidized abortions, and churches in California are being forced to pay for abortions.  

President Trump’s fiery Inauguration speech had one consistent theme — “We are transferring power from Washington, D.C., and giving it back to you, the people.”

If we truly want our government to reflect the pro-life consensus that is prevalent in our nation, it truly is up to the people like never before.  2017 is our year, but only if we make it so. To contact your member of Congress feel free to use March for Life Action’s resources.  Until then — see you at the March for Life on Friday January 27th!

Tom McClusky is the Vice-President of Government Affairs of March for Life Action. The March for Life brings together pro-life leaders and groups to organize, unite and strategize around a common message, and to communicate this message to the government, the media and the nation in a way that is powerful and life affirming.

The views of contributors are their own and not the views of The Hill.