Disagreements are growing over policies concerning abortion on the 2024 GOP platform, with pro-life advocates saying they fear presumptive nominee Donald Trump's call for states to determine regulations will do away with their call for constitutional protections for the unborn.
The tension has been growing in recent weeks, with conservative leaders warning of a split on the issue, and with others discussing issuing a "minority report" during the upcoming Republican National Convention, reports The Washington Post, quoting sources said to be familiar with the discussions as Trump reviews the platform's draft language.
"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," Marjorie Dannenfelser, president of Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America, commented in a statement this week.
She added that there is "every indication" that Trump's campaign will "muscle through changes behind closed doors."
Trump's advisers have made it clear they want the platform document to be shorter and include language on abortion that is close to the former president's position.
After the Supreme Court's ruling in 2022 overturning Roe v. Wade, Trump says he agrees with the court that each state should reach its own decisions on regulating abortions and that the "will of the people" should be considered, not federal bans.
Trump's allies say that allowing states to make their own decisions makes him seem more moderate, but opponents say Trump's stance allows him to be tied to extreme abortion limits, including in some states that have enacted nearly full bans on procedures.
Meanwhile, Trump's advisers have blocked the press and C-SPAN from next week's platform committee meetings in Milwaukee, which breaks with tradition and has shocked some delegates.
Family Research Council President Tony Perkins, who is on the platform committee, this week wrote in a letter to RNC Chairman Michael Whatley that Trump's advisers are using "stalling tactics" by making the meetings private.
This, he said, will make the platform "a few pages of meaningless, poll-tested talking points."
"We reach consensus by presenting our ideas and playing by the rules. And I am very concerned about closing down the process," Perkins commented Thursday. "The Republican Party should not be operating as we point out the left so often does — wanting to silence opposition."
The Trump campaign, though, said the final language on abortion has not yet been decided, and some officials suggested the platform that's approved could appease anti-abortion activists.
On June 10, eight social conservative leaders and anti-abortion advocates wrote a letter to Trump, demanding that the GOP platform include support for federal limits on abortion.
"We support a human life amendment to the Constitution and legislation to make clear that the Fourteenth Amendment’s protections apply to children before birth," the letter said. "This is the language that both you and Ronald Reagan ran on and won."
Dannenfelser, Perkins, Faith and Freedom Coalition President Ralph Reed, and Penny Nance, the president of Concerned Women for America, were among those signing the letter.
Meanwhile, there are also RNC members who say they're concerned that Trump's team could back away from the 2016 platform denouncing the Supreme Court's decision in 2015 to allow same-sex couples to marry, reports The Post.
Trump advisers have said privately, though, that they consider same-sex marriage an issue that has already been settled and that they do not want a fight over the matter, said sources.