RNC approves Trump-centric platform with softened language on abortion

A Republican National Committee (RNC) panel passed a draft party platform Monday ahead of next week’s convention that dramatically shifts the GOP’s stance on abortion, mirroring former President Trump’s own posture on the issue.

The Republican platform committee overwhelmingly approved the new platform, which will receive a final vote behind closed doors Tuesday. The platform echoes Trump on key issues including trade, immigration and foreign policy while also doing away with specific language about traditional marriage and enacting limits on abortion.

“President Trump’s 2024 Republican Party Platform articulates his vision to Make America Great Again in a way that is concise and digestible for every voter,” top Trump campaign advisers Chris LaCivita and Susie Wiles said in a statement. 

Multiple news outlets reported the platform language on abortion is vague and watered down from previous cycles, despite concerns from anti-abortion activists who had urged Trump to take a strong stance on the issue.

“We proudly stand for families and life. We believe that the 14th Amendment to the Constitution of the United States 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,” the platform on abortion reads, according to language first reported by The Washington Post and obtained by The Hill.

“After 51 years, because of us, that power has been given to the states and to a vote of the people,” the platform states. “We will oppose late term abortion while supporting mothers and policies that advance prenatal care, access to birth control, and IVF (fertility treatments).”

Trump has faced relentless political attacks from Democrats since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022. Trump appointed three of the justices whose votes triggered the overturning of the landmark ruling that had protected abortion access.

Trump has said states should be left to enact individual laws on abortion via legislatures or ballot referendums, calling it a “beautiful thing to watch” as some states enshrine abortion rights and others enact restrictive bans without exceptions.

“Donald Trump has made it clear with his own words and actions what he will do if he regains power – rip away women’s freedoms, punish women, and ban abortion nationwide,” President Biden campaign spokesperson Sarafina Chitika said in a statement. “You don’t have to take it from us, take it from Trump himself: He’s ‘proud’ to have ‘killed’ Roe v. Wade and unleashed extreme bans with no exceptions for rape or incest, which he calls ‘a beautiful thing to watch’… Despite Trump and his team’s best efforts, the American people are clear on just how far he would go to rip away their freedoms – and they’ll vote accordingly this November.”

The rest of the platform mirrors what Trump has called for on the campaign trail: promising the largest mass deportation operation in American history, preventing “World War Three,” canceling electric vehicle mandates, keeping men out of women’s sports and ending the weaponization of government, a nod to his own numerous legal cases.

Nathaniel Weixel contributed.

Updated at 1:44 p.m. EDT