The Republican Party’s policy platform for the November election got rid of a longstanding call for a national abortion ban—but abortion rights advocates warn the GOP could still try to outlaw the procedure, as the platform still endorses “fetal personhood,” a legal theory that could be even more far-reaching.
Anti-abortion activists attend the 50th annual March for Life rally on the National Mall on January ... [+]
The GOP platform, which was released this week ahead of the Republican National Convention, got rid of a provision calling for a national abortion ban that had been in its platform for decades, though it condemns “Late Term Abortion”—a term that’s been criticized by abortion rights advocates—and states the party “proudly stands for families and Life.”
It also states the GOP “believe[s] 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 that the States are, therefore, free to pass Laws protecting those Rights”—a provision that endorses the legal theory known as “fetal personhood.”
Fetal personhood is the idea that fetuses have the same constitutional rights as people—a legal defense that, if endorsed by the Supreme Court, would essentially necessitate a national abortion ban, as it would mean that physicians and pregnant people would be committing murder by terminating a pregnancy.
The theory could also affect in vitro fertilization and some forms of birth control—even as the GOP platform expresses support for both—allow pregnant people to be criminally prosecuted for having an abortion or endangering their fetus in any way, and make fetuses eligible for benefits like child tax credits, which has already happened in Georgia.
While nearly 20 states already have some form of fetal personhood law on the books, University of California Davis professor Mary Ziegler, who’s writing a book on fetal personhood, told The Guardian in March anti-abortion advocates want to get a case to the Supreme Court that would lead them to uphold the legal theory on a national scale—which could be easier with a Trump-led Justice Department.
Because of the nod to fetal personhood, many anti-abortion advocates praised the GOP’s platform even as it removed the national abortion ban provision: Marjorie Dannenfelser, president of Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America, said it was “important that the G.O.P. reaffirmed its commitment to protect unborn life” by mentioning the 14th Amendment, and Students for Life of America President Kristen Hawkins tweeted the party’s support for the theory “is an open door to passing strong pro-life federal legislation.”
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“Personhood would, as most abortion opponents now understand it, require states to ban abortion, not permit them to,” Ziegler wrote on X about the GOP’s abortion platform, noting that including the fetal personhood language while also talking about states’ rights and deleting the national abortion ban made the party’s stance intentionally unclear. “What is Trump doing? Confusing everyone to convince everyone that they can tolerate his position.”
In addition to the Republican Party’s formal platform, Trump allies have also been preparing a widely scrutinized plan for how the possible next Republican president—namely Trump—should govern, known as Project 2025. If carried out, that plan also stands to widely restrict abortion without necessarily imposing a new national ban on the procedure, including by having the Food and Drug Administration rescind its approval for abortion drug mifepristone. It also calls for the federal government to enforce the Comstock Act, a 19th century law that’s sat dormant for decades and bans the mailing of “every article or thing designed, adapted, or intended for producing abortion” and anything “which is advertised or described in a manner calculated to lead another to use or apply it for producing abortion.” The law could be a “backdoor” method to banning abortion if it was actually enforced, abortion rights advocates have argued, because it could be used not only to ban mailing abortion pills, but also stop any abortion medications or equipment from being mailed to hospitals or clinics, hamstringing physicians’ ability to carry out the procedure even in states where abortion is legal.
79%. That’s the share of U.S. voters who do not want Congress to pass a national ban outlawing abortion, according to an Associated Press/NORC poll released Tuesday, including a 64% majority of Republicans. A 61% majority said abortion should be allowed in their state for any reason, which is up from just 49% who said the same in 2021.
The GOP’s decision to cut out the national abortion ban language comes as the party’s push for banning abortion has become a political liability, with polling showing voters largely back abortion remaining legal, and numerous races in 2022 and 2023 tilted in favor of abortion rights. Trump, whose views on abortion have flip-flopped, has not called for imposing any further abortion restrictions, saying he wants to leave the issue up to the states—though abortion rights advocates have long been skeptical that would be the case if he’s actually elected. Anti-abortion activists’ push for fetal personhood is part of a long campaign that dates back to the 1980s, and the theory initially came into the mainstream through punishments against pregnant people who abused drugs, NPR notes. The debate over fetal personhood was revived after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022, with many abortion rights supporters believing anti-abortion advocates would push for fetal personhood next. The theory then gained attention earlier this year after the Alabama Supreme Court used the state’s personhood law to ascribe rights to frozen embryos used in IVF, sparking outrage across the country over the threat to the procedure.
New Trump-Backed GOP Platform Drops 40-Year-Old Call For National Abortion Restrictions (Forbes)
How Trump Could Use A 19th Century Law To Ban Abortion—Without Congress (Forbes)
The Endgame in the Battle Over Abortion (Politico)
How 'fetal personhood' in Alabama's IVF ruling evolved from fringe to mainstream (NPR)