MILWAUKEE — Delegates at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee have approved a party platform softening the GOP’s official stance on abortion, but Democrats say the change in tone is merely a play for voters.
The platform approved by delegates on Monday paints abortion as an issue for individual states to decide and abandons Republicans’ decadeslong calls for a federal ban. It’s a shift that reflects former President Donald Trump and his allies’ messaging on reproductive rights.
Democrats have viewed abortion rights as a winning issue for their party since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned its landmark decision in Roe v. Wade two years ago. Liberal candidates across the country have successfully campaigned on protecting or restoring abortion access since.
Trump, who nominated three of the justices in the court’s conservative majority, has taken credit for the Dobbs decision.
“Whatever they’re writing in a platform on women’s reproductive rights is so undermined by what Donald Trump did,” Democratic Sen. Cory Booker said Tuesday at a news conference in Milwaukee.
VIDEO: New RNC platform softens party's abortion stance, Democrats say it's a ruse
Trump’s vice-presidential pick, Ohio Sen. JD Vance, has strongly opposed abortion rights – a track record that excited anti-abortion advocates when Trump announced his running mate on Monday. Vance said in 2021 that “two wrongs don’t make a right” when asked whether he supports exceptions for rape and incest.
Democrats pointed to Trump picking Vance as evidence that the new party platform would have little impact on GOP policies.
“JD Vance represents a clear signal by Donald Trump that he is doubling down on his attacks on democracy and his commitment to ripping away reproductive freedom from Americans,” Wisconsin Democratic Party Chair Ben Wikler said Tuesday. “JD Vance said he would not have certified the election. He supports an abortion ban without exceptions for rape and incest. That’s who Donald Trump wants a heartbeat away from the presidency.”
Republican U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson, of Wisconsin, defended the new platform. Johnson has repeatedly proposed that the state Legislature should put the question of abortion access before Wisconsin voters.
“It acknowledges the Dobbs decision. Dobbs did not outlaw abortion,” Johnson said. “Let ‘we the people’ decide: At what point does society want to protect life?”
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