WASHINGTON – Former President Donald Trump said Monday that if re-elected, he plans to work “shoulder to shoulder” with a newly formed religious organization that says abortion is “the greatest atrocity facing the United States and should be “completely eradicated.”
During two-minute taped remarks at the Danbury Institute’s inaugural Life & Liberty Forum in Indianapolis, Trump avoided using the word “abortion” but said he hoped to protect “innocent life” if re-elected in November.
“We must defend religious freedom, freedom of speech, innocent life, and the heritage and traditions that have made America the greatest nation in the history of the world,” Trump said. “But now, as you know, we are a nation in decline.”
Trump, the presumptive GOP presidential nominee, has said he hopes to work with the institute to defend those values.
“These will be your years because you will come back like no other group,” Trump said. “I know what’s going on. I know where you come from and where you’re going. And I will be with you, shoulder to shoulder.”
Trump also urged the Danbury Institute and church members to vote for him in the November presidential election, saying President Joe Biden and Democrats are “anti-religion.”
Biden-Harris 2024 spokeswoman Sarafina Chitika said in a written statement released before Trump’s message was played that his second term “will surely bring more radical abortion bans without exceptions, women punished for seeking the care they need, and doctors punished for doing so.” that providing care.”
“Women can and will stop him by re-electing President Biden and Vice President Harris in November,” Chitika wrote.
Abortion station
The Danbury Institute writes on its website that it opposes abortion “from the moment of conception, which means that every unborn child would be treated under the law with the same protections as natural persons.”
“The intentional, premeditated murder of an unborn child should be dealt with using homicide laws already in force,” the website reads. “We also support strengthening the foster care system and encouraging Christian adoption, and we work with churches across the country to help them prepare to care for children in need of loving families.”
Elsewhere on the Danbury Institute’s website you can read that, according to the organization, “the greatest atrocity facing our generation today is the practice of abortion—the sacrificing of children on the altar of self.”
“Abortion must be ended,” we read on the website. “We will not rest until it is completely eradicated.”
The website does not mention whether the organization supports exceptions for cases of rape, incest or life of the woman, nor does it say whether women who have abortions should be protected from criminal prosecution. The institute did not respond to States Newsroom’s request to clarify whether it supports any or all of these three exceptions.
The Institute writes on its website that it “does not support any candidate for public office or participate in political campaign activities. Contributions to the Danbury Institute are not used for political campaign purposes and are made in compliance with IRS nonprofit regulations.”
Florida minister disagrees with letter regarding abortion
Tom Ascol, president of Founders Ministries in Florida, spoke on a panel discussion on “Sanctity of Life” at Monday’s event, where he said that “abortion is this nation’s greatest evil of our time.”
Ascol also seemed frustrated: public writing released by dozens of anti-abortion organizations in May 2022, arguing that no laws should criminalize women who have abortions. He took particular exception to the acting chairman of the Southern Baptist Convention’s Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission, who signed the document.
“It saddens me that when the Louisiana Legislature was introducing legislation that had a real chance of passing because there were legislators who wanted to go further… that 75 pro-life organizations wrote an open letter, including the leader of our Ethics Committee and the Religious Liberty Commission Brent Leatherwood, who added his name to the letter, stating: “We do not believe that any legislative body should criminalize abortion to the extent that those who donate their bodies for abortion purposes would be held accountable,” Ascol said during the conference.
This letter was published on the same day in 2022 that state lawmakers in Louisiana were debating House Bill 813who was on a distinguished track criminalize women having abortions apart from the doctors who provide them. The prosecutor’s office could charge the women with murder.
Louisiana lawmakers instead decided to change the language of the original bill replacing it with another anti-abortion measure that would not provide for criminal sanctions for women who have an abortion.
Ascol said he thinks the Southern Baptist Convention’s Commission on Ethics and Religious Liberty needs to say publicly whether its “goal (is) to abolish abortion. And if that’s the case and they’re sincere, then OK, let’s work together.”
“If we manage to do this, I think we will have a chance to build a coalition,” Ascol said. “If we get more open letters from so-called pro-life organizations helping to strengthen legal legislation, I think we will continue to see fragmentation, which is understandable.”
National Right to Life, the Susan B. Anthony List and Americans United for Life were among the organizations that signed the May 2022 letter.
Trump and abortion, contraception
Trump’s comments to the Danbury Institute on Monday did not clear up the confusion that has resulted from his comments to news organizations over the past few months.
Trump said during the interview in April, TIME magazine published information that in the coming weeks his campaign would release a policy on access to medical abortion, a two-drug regimen approved until the 10th week of pregnancy.
“Well, I have my opinion on it, but I’m not going to explain it,” Trump said, according to The Times. transcription interview. – I won’t say it yet. But I have some pretty robust views on this. And I will publish it probably next week.”
As of Monday, that rule had not been published.
Drug abortions, which include mifepristone and misoprostol, account for about 63% of abortions in the United States, according to data. data from the Guttmacher Institute.
US Supreme Court justices questioned oral arguments in a case involving the operate of mifepristone in overdue March and are expected to publish their ruling before July 4.
During a job interview in May, on a Pittsburgh television news station, Trump suggested he might be open to states limiting or banning access to contraception, though he backtracked on his comments in a social media post the same day.
Trump signals he’s open to state restrictions on access to contraceptives, then insists he’s not
“We’re looking at it and I’ll be developing a policy on it soon and I think you’ll find it interesting,” Trump said on KDKA after being asked if he would support any human rights restrictions on contraception. “This is another very interesting issue. But you will find that it is very wise. I think this is a wise decision, but we will publish it soon.”
Trump later wrote on social media that he has never been and will never be “OPPOSITIVE OF IMPOSING RESTRICTIONS ON BIRTH CONTROL or other contraceptives.”
As of Monday, Trump’s campaign has not released any information on contraceptive policy.
The US Senate will vote on in vitro fertilization this week
Access to reproductive health care, including contraception and in vitro fertilization, has become a recurring issue in the U.S. Senate ahead of the November elections, with Democrats looking to put GOP members on the register.
Senate tried to pass a bill last week it would have protected access to contraception, but an overwhelming majority of Republicans in the chamber voted against passing the bill.
Access to contraception is currently protected in two U.S. Supreme Court cases – Griswold v. Connecticut and Eisenstadt v. Baird – in which justices ruled that Americans’ right to privacy allows them to make such decisions on their own.
Democrats and reproductive rights advocates fear the justices could ultimately overturn the two cases in the same way the court overturned Roe v. Wade.
The Senate is scheduled to vote this week on legislation to guarantee access to in vitro fertilization, although GOP senators are also expected to block the bill.
