This year’s Republican National Convention was filled with its fair share of memorable moments — ranging from Hulk Hogan ripping his shirt in half to Kid Rock screaming into a microphone.
However, one of the largest headlines related to the convention broke just days before any speeches were given. The panel in charge of creating the official Republican party platform approved a new document using softened language regarding abortion and same-sex marriage.
NBC News reported it was the party’s first time removing any mention of a federal abortion ban. CNN reported former President Donald Trump contributed to the platform by writing some of the sections himself.
The panel met to approve the platform, but for the first time, members of the media and the public weren’t allowed to see the proceedings. The platform was approved by an overwhelming vote of 84-18, which appeared to signify a shift in the party’s beliefs.
But does it actually?
Many are skeptical the party is actually becoming more moderate on any of these issues. In addition to those skeptical, social conservatives voiced their dissatisfaction with the removal of extremist language, feeling a sense of almost betrayal.
Ultimately, it appears, the Republican Party hopes to use moderate language as a Trojan Horse to usher in an extremist agenda targeting America’s most vulnerable.
What led up to the change?
It’s no secret that after the election of President Joe Biden, Republicans started to lean into culture war rhetoric and politics.
Florida Governor and former presidential candidate Ron DeSantis spearheaded legislative attacks against LGBTQ+ students and educators when he signed the infamous “Don’t Say Gay” bill. DeSantis sparked a movement of vast anti-LGBTQ+ legislation, which swept across conservative-led states.
Laws targeting healthcare for trans youth and bans on books featuring queer representation began to pop up all across America. Around the same time, Republican officials claimed Critical Race Theory was infiltrating elementary and middle school classrooms, pitting students against each other. Critical Race Theory is an academic framework often used in higher education courses to examine public policy and history through a racial lens.
These claims resulted in entire curriculums being rewritten to whitewash history — some states even eliminated slavery as a contributing factor in the start of the Civil War. A total of 18 states have passed anti-Critical Race Theory laws, and almost 530 anti-LGBTQ+ bills are currently in the works across the country.
In 2022, the U.S. Supreme Court overruled the nearly 50-year precedent in Roe v. Wade, which guaranteed access to abortion on the federal level. After the Court’s ruling, 22 states banned abortion or restricted the procedure earlier in pregnancy than what was previously standard.
As a result of stripping access to abortion in nearly half of the U.S., Republicans failed to flip the U.S. Senate, preventing them from completely blocking Biden’s agenda. In addition, the number of people seeking abortions increased to the highest rate in nearly a decade and a 10% increase from 2020.
The Pew Research Center released a report revealing 63% of individuals say abortion should be legal in all or most cases, but that wasn’t the most insightful discovery. The same report revealed 41% of Republicans believe abortion should be legal, and after a conservative Supreme Court overruled the right to abortion access, a majority of Americans – including conservatives – voiced their disapproval in the ruling.
It can be argued Republicans have alienated a majority of voters via their legislative agenda for the last four years, as 49% of Americans identify as Democratic or Democratic leaning and 48% identify as right-leaning or Republican. The more extreme and marginalizing the language used, the more likely Americans will run the other way.
What exactly does the new platform say?
Trump and his team allegedly advocated to have less socially conservative policies, according to multiple news outlets. The platform was formally named “America First: A Return to Common Sense,” and refocuses on trying to “end inflation” and “Make America Affordable Again.”
“Ours is a forward-looking Agenda with strong promises that we will accomplish very quickly when we win the White House and Republican Majorities in the House and Senate,” Trump said in a social media post.
One platform committee member told NBC the new platform “reflects modern day realities,” while it appears to only dodge hot-button issues by using softened terminology to mask the stances Republicans truly have on the issue.
A draft document obtained by CNN reads:
“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 the States are, therefore, free to pass Laws protecting those Rights,” in reference to the overturning of Roe v. Wade.
Anti-abortion groups have expressed their disappointment in the panel’s decision to take a moderate approach. According to reporting from The Hill, anti-abortion leaders claim abandoning the federal abortion ban would “be abandoning all the progress the movement has made at limiting access to the procedure.”
“Every indication is that the campaign will muscle through changes behind closed doors,” Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America President Marjorie Dannenfelser said in a statement. “If the Trump campaign decides to remove national protections for the unborn in the GOP platform, it would be a miscalculation that would hurt party unity and destroy pro-life enthusiasm between now and the election.”
Are Republicans becoming more moderate?
It’s hard to say if a majority of Republicans — including the former president — will follow the new platform.
Though Trump has voiced opposition to a federal abortion ban throughout this campaign, he was practically the first to claim responsibility for the overturning of Roe v. Wade. As recently as March of this year, Trump suggested to reporters he would be open to signing a federal abortion ban around 15 weeks of pregnancy.
“The number of weeks now, people are agreeing on 15, and I’m thinking in terms of that,” Trump said on “Sid & Friends in the Morning” show on WABC.
“And it’ll come out to something that’s very reasonable. But people are really, even hard-liners are agreeing, seems to be, 15 weeks seems to be a number that people are agreeing at.”
After that interview, however, Trump flipped his stance again, saying ““Everybody agrees — you’ve heard this for years — all the legal scholars on both sides agree: It’s a state issue. It shouldn’t be a federal issue, it’s a state issue.”
Bottom line: there’s no way to guarantee these politicians will stay as moderate as they claim to be. We can’t risk politicians flipping their stances – as elected Republicans have shown they are quite capable of doing – in favor of a more extreme view. Ultimately, that would result in the uprooting of our Republic as we know it.