San Francisco Chronicle, July 2024
So far in this election year, Republican leaders have done little to hide their opposition to abortion, supporting state laws that ban the procedure and celebrating former President Donald Trump’s appointment of Supreme Court justices who enabled the court to overturn Roe v. Wade. But the proposed party platform is vague and at times contradictory, enough so that it has generated conflicting takes on what it would do and what it means.
On the one hand, the platform proclaims reverence for “families and Life,” and declares that states can pass laws protecting the rights of every “person,” language that some interpret as an endorsement of fetal personhood. On the other hand, it endorses a right to birth control and omits language in previous platforms that expressly called for a constitutional ban on abortion.
