By Shawn Carney via The Daily Signal | November 15, 2024
Donald Trump is the most pro-life president in U.S. history. No other leader of the free world has matched his commitment to defending life, from defunding abortion providers to decisively reshaping the Supreme Court.
As we look to a second Trump term, two pro-life policies are likely to take center stage and immediately should be adopted.
A third—a national abortion ban—is not likely to get traction at this time.
1. Defund Planned Parenthood
Under President Joe Biden, Planned Parenthood received a record $750 million of taxpayer funding while performing a record 392,000 abortions just last year. The so-called nonprofit now gets roughly one-third of its total income from the federal government.
Defunding Planned Parenthood would be a major setback for the organization, which has already shown signs of mission drift and ineffective leadership in the post-Roe v. Wade era.
Since Cecile Richards left in 2018 after 12 years at the helm, the role of CEO at Planned Parenthood has become a chaotic evolving door, and the overturning of Roe didn’t help. The current leadership has been less effective in executing Planned Parenthood’s mission, as confirmed by both current and former employees.
In 2017, Trump sought to defund Planned Parenthood, but was blocked by then-Speaker of the House Paul Ryan and other Republicans lacking the political will and moral clarity to make it happen.
He revisited the idea in 2019 through Title X, which provides government funding to Planned Parenthood to distribute contraceptives and other so-called family planning. Just last month, shortly before the election, then-vice presidential candidate Sen. JD Vance, R-Ohio, affirmed the Republican ticket’s goal to defund Planned Parenthood under a second Trump administration.
This move also aligns with Trump’s stance that abortion is now a state issue and, therefore, federal funding should not be supporting it. Like many other nonprofits in the nation, Planned Parenthood should fund itself, rather than relying on federal handouts.
Additionally, we can expect Trump to both cut funding for Planned Parenthood International—Planned Parenthood’s arm in foreign countries—as he did in his first term, and reinstate the Mexico City Policy, one of his first actions as president in 2017, to prevent U.S. taxpayer dollars from funding overseas abortions.
2. Reregulating Abortion Pills
Following the overturning of Roe, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Food and Drug Administration dramatically expanded access to abortion pills by permitting them to be dispensed through pharmacies and even by mail, without requiring any in-person medical oversight.
Removing the need for a visit to a medical professional before taking these pills hardly qualifies as safe health care, likely contributing to the fact that 1 out of every 21 women who take them end up in the emergency room.
Reinstating basic regulations on abortion pills is a commonsense measure that even pro-abortion advocates once supported. Not least given the revelation of alarming medical statistics, it stands a strong chance of gaining traction with a Republican majority in Congress.
3. A National Abortion Ban
Since the Supreme Court chose not to apply the 14th Amendment to unborn children, abortion has been returned to the states. Although a federal abortion ban was quickly brought into the conversation, Trump has consistently stated he would not pursue one, and there’s no reason to expect he’d go back on his word.
Calls for a 15-week ban—an arbitrary gestational threshold—were considered, but ultimately rejected, by Trump. In a post-Roe America, where 25 states have already enacted strong pro-life laws, a 15-week ban would undermine their more protective legislation already in place, signaling weakness rather than progress. A 15-week ban would become the standard in all of those pro-life states that have already saved tens of thousands of babies with stricter bans or heartbeat bills that prevent abortions after six weeks of pregnancy.
Shawn Carney is president and CEO of the pro-life organization 40 Days for Life and the author of “What to Say When 2: Your Proven Guide in the New Abortion Landscape.”
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