Oswald Clark and Paul Tuns
Personnel is policy – Key members of Trump’s team: Donald Trump’s appointments to cabinet and other important roles include (from top left going clockwise) Pete Hegseth as Secretary of Defense, Robert Kennedy Jr. as Secretary of Health and Human Services, Marco Rubio as Secretary of State, and Elise Stefanik as the U.S. Representative to the United Nations. Hegseth, Rubio, and Stefanik are all pro-life but Kennedy is pro-abortion. Kennedy has given assurances to Senate Republicans that he would not promote abortion in his new role that has a great deal of influence over the administration of abortion in the U.S. All four await confirmation by the U.S. Senate.
Donald Trump ran on a federalist approach to abortion, saying that it was up to states to restrict abortion and saying he would veto a federal ban of any kind if it got to his desk in the White House. Still, pro-lifers overwhelmingly supported the former president in his attempt to return to the White House in part because of the extreme anti-life policies of the Biden administration and the Democratic standard-bearer, Kamala Harris, but also because there are numerous policies that Trump could deliver that would advance the pro-life cause.
Marjorie Dannenfelser, president of Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America, told the Catholic News Agency that Trump can reinstate “the commonsense policies” of his first administration and reverse “the Biden-Harris administration’s unprecedented violation of longstanding federal laws” of by-passing federal prohibitions on direct funding of abortion.
Dannenfelser outlined the broad hopes of the pro-life movement: “Among the actions he can take, we trust that he will stop the illegal funding of abortion through the Veterans Administration and Department of Defense, start enforcing nondiscrimination laws again so Americans are never forced to participate in abortion, reinstate the Protect Life Rule at home and abroad to stop funneling tax dollars to the abortion industry, and free the patriots unjustly put in prison for peacefully protesting the killing of unborn children.”
Kelsey Pritchard, the director of state public affairs for Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America, said, “We’re very focused on encouraging the Trump administration to undo all of the harm [from] the Biden administration.”
Students for Life of America president Kristen Hawkins said she thinks Trump is mistaken for insisting that any gestational limits to abortion should be left to the states but that there are still a number of federal issues on which “we can work with them.” She said federal agencies could uphold conscience rights for health care workers and hospitals opposed to abortion, among other policies.
While the pro-life movement is united in hoping to see Biden’s policies reversed, there is little agreement on a pro-active approach, whether it is focusing on backing a federal ban – either in total or up to a certain point in the pregnancy – or fighting for restrictions at the state-level.
Global abortion agenda
The priority for most pro-life leaders is defunding abortion, and there are two policies the Trump administration could enact to that end: reviving the Mexico City Policy that prohibits U.S. funding for abortion abroad and defunding abortion domestically by ceasing all funding for abortion giant Planned Parenthood.
The Mexico City Policy, first signed by Ronald Reagan and enacted by every Republican president since, and rescinded by every Democratic president, bans U.S. foreign aid funds from being used to carry out or refer abortions. Donald Trump in his first presidency strengthened the measure, renaming it “Protecting Life in Global Health Assistance,” to ban funding for any organization that commits or promotes abortion, including United Nations bodies.
In an Oct. 17 interview with EWTN’s Raymond Arroyo, Trump said of the Mexico City Policy, “We’re going to be giving that a very good, serious look,” Trump said without committing to reimplementing the policy.
The policy is an executive memorandum which does not need congressional approval.
Project 2025, the 900-page Heritage Foundation document outlining policy suggestions for the incoming Trump administration, advocates re-instituting “Protecting Life in Global Health Assistance,” as well as rejoining the Geneva Consensus Declaration which commits countries to “protecting human life” and “strengthening the family.” The Trump administration signed the declaration in 2020.
Defunding abortion
In October, Trump’s running mate, JD Vance, indicated that a Trump administration would defund Planned Parenthood, at least partially. “Our view is we don’t think that taxpayers should not fund late-term abortions.”
In November, Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy, co-chairmen of the so-called Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) – not an actual department – said that Washington should stop funding Planned Parenthood. Writing in the Wall Street Journal they vowed “DOGE will help end federal overspending by taking aim at the $500 billion plus in annual federal expenditures that are unauthorized by Congress or being used in ways that Congress never intended,” naming among unauthorized expenditures, $300 million in funding for Planned Parenthood.
According to American Life League’s STOPP International initiative, Planned Parenthood received nearly $700 million in 2023, up from just over $600 million in 2020. In 2023, Planned Parenthood committed nearly 400,000 abortions.
More than 100 Congressional Republicans including House Speaker Mike Johnson and Senate Majority Leader John Thune sent a letter to the Government Accountability Office requesting that it investigate how much money has been awarded to facilities operated by Planned Parenthood and other groups that commit abortions. “It is our hope that this report will provide greater insight as Congress considers funding levels and provides increased transparency and openness for our constituencies and the general public,” the Republican lawmakers stated in their letter.
Republican leaders have vowed to defund Planned Parenthood for more than two decades – Trump promised to defund the organization in 2016 but only cut $60 million in funding during his administration through the Protect Life Rule affecting its Title X family planning program. But with the Planned Parenthood Action Fund contributing millions of dollars to Democratic get-out-the-vote initiatives and pro-Democratic advertising, Republicans may be more motivated to defund Planned Parenthood, which is sitting on a $2 billion nest egg.
Some pro-life groups are calling for the passage of the Protecting Life and Taxpayers Act, a bill that would require all “federally funded entities to certify that they will not, subject to certain exceptions, perform abortions or provide funding to other entities that perform abortions.” The only exceptions would be for abortions undertaken in cases of rape or incest, or when the life of the mother is in danger. It would need virtually unanimous support among Republicans in both houses of Congress to pass.
Students for Life of America (SFLA) wants to bar Planned Parenthood from all federal funding using the administration suspension and debarment provision. It would not require Congressional approval and could be invoked due to substantial allegations of illegal involvement in the traffic of fetal tissues, Medicaid fraud, and numerous failures to follow health and safety standards, and failure to report sexual crimes.
Freeing pro-life political prisoners
Under Joe Biden, the Department of Justice has tried and convicted more than a dozen pro-life activists based on the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances (FACE) Act. SFLA’s Hawkins said she wants to see an end to the “weaponization of the government against Americans who are pro-life.” Pardoning the “pro-life prayer warriors,” Hawkins said, should be a priority on his first day in office.
Last June, at the Faith and Freedom Coalition’s Road to a Majority Policy Conference, Trump pledged to free them, mentioning the case of 75-year-old Paulette Harlow, who was sentenced to two years in prison for her conviction of blocking an abortion mill in Washington, D.C. “Paulette is one of many peaceful pro-lifers who Joe Biden has rounded up, sometimes with SWAT teams, and thrown them in jail,” said Trump. “Many people are in jail over this … We’re going to get that taken care of immediately — first day.” He vowed to “rapidly review the cases of every political prisoner who’s unjustly victimized by the Biden regime, including Paulette, so we can get them out of the gulags and back to their families where they belong.”
De-woking Defense
Trump’s appointment – subject to Senate approval – of Pete Hegseth as Secretary of Defense could augur well for fixing the Department of Defense by ending promotion of gender ideology and abortion. Hegseth, a military veteran and Fox News host, Alliance Defending Freedom senior counsel Matt Bowman said, “The Biden-Harris administration radicalized the federal bureaucracy to promote abortion and dangerous gender procedures and suppress opposition to their agenda,” Bowman said. “We hope President-elect Trump’s appointed leaders will restore the rule of law, respect biological reality, and stop targeting free speech.”
The Biden administration reversed a policy that restricted people with gender dysphoria from serving in the military. Also under the Biden administration, the Department of Defense funded gender transitions and abortion-related travel expenses for service members and their families.
Hegseth has criticized the woke policies of the Defense Department, including encouraging the use of gender-neutral pronouns. He is also pro-life and referred to abortion as “generational genocide.”
Trump said he would fire “woke” generals who care more about social policy than military readiness.
Future of the
abortion pill
Time magazine named Donald Trump its Man of the Year and in an accompanying interview published online on Dec. 12, the president-elect said he would not use his executive authority to restrict access to the abortion pill mifepristone. Asked specifically if he would commit ensuring that the Food and Drug Administration would continue to keep access to the abortion pill legal, Trump replied “that would be my commitment — yeah, it’s always been my commitment.” But that commitment came after Trump saying people “feel strongly both ways, really strongly both ways, and those are the things that are dividing the country.”
The abortion pill – labeled medical abortions by abortion activists and chemical abortions by pro-lifers – was approved in 2000 but in 2023 a federal court judge ruled that the approval was invalid and ignored the concomitant health risks; the Supreme Court ultimately overturned the lower court decision. Today, the abortion pill is responsible for more than half of all abortions in the U.S.
Students for Life America focuses on the abortion pill in its statement “Make America Pro-life Again.” In it, the organization calls for the enforcement of the Comstock Act, which prohibits the delivery of “obscene” and “vile” products through the mail, including abortifacients. The law dates back to 1873 but has been ignored by COVID-era rules that liberalized abortion access by permitting it to be distributed by mail. During the campaign, Trump said he would not enforce Comstock. Hawkins said if Trump “wants to be the president of law and order,” he should enforce the law as it is written
Hawkins said that even in states were abortion is enshrined in their constitution, there is much that can be done to stop the abortion pill. A right to abortion, Hawkins insisted, “doesn’t mean (every) type of abortion should be permitted.”
Students for Life also recommends using the regulatory powers of the Food and Drug Administration and Environmental Protection Agency to make rules governing the disposal of aborted babies expelled after taking the abortion pill; Hawkins said the remains are commonly flushed into American waterways which “pollutes” the water supply.
Family policy
Candidate Trump vowed to help families make ends meet, including making having children more affordable, specifically by bolstering the child tax credit. The promise was given credence by choosing Vance as his running mate considering the former Ohio senator frequently supported enhancing federal assistance for families including a proposal to more than double the child tax credit (CTC) from $2000 to $5000. Fiscally conservative Republicans opposed the proposal and they could nix the idea quickly as part of efforts to balance the budget, which Trump says he wants to do. The American Enterprise Institute said the enhanced CTC would cost more than $3.6 trillion, which makes it “probably outside the realm of possibility” according to Ethics and Public Policy Center fellow Patrick Brown. The child tax credit is scheduled to revert to $1000 after the 2025 fiscal year meaning that without some action, families will be worse off at the end of the Trump administration barring any other pro-family fiscal policy. Mississippi Attorney General Lynn Fitch, who defended her state’s pro-life laws in the Dobbs case, has pressed her state Republican legislature to expand the social safety net to help families. Autumn Christensen, vice president of public policy for Susan B. Anthony List, has noted that about three-quarters of all abortions are sought by women living at 200 per cent of the poverty level or under. Leah Sargeant, a policy analyst at the libertarian Niskanen Center think tank, supports a one-time $2000 “baby bonus” to be distributed just before or at birth to help defray the costs of having a newborn. Americans United for Life supports a policy of making birth free.
Two of the most vocal advocates of pro-family policies are now in the Trump administration – Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio. While they will have more power to advance pro-life and pro-family policy in the administration, it makes the legislative strategy for the pro-family movement much murkier.
