Some Thoughts on Abortion and Trump's Platform

100 years from now our great great grandchildren will think of abortion as archaic and monstrous, as we think of slavery.

by Rod D. Martin
July 16, 2024

Some thoughts on abortion and the platform:

I think "abortion as a state issue" is what we said when we were fighting for decades to overturn Roe. I think that was necessary. But it was certainly not a final answer. I think turning the issue back to the states is certainly a better halfway house than what we had.

But in reality, the Due Process Clause of the 14th Amendment abolishes abortion. At the federal level. Everywhere. "No person shall be deprived of life, liberty or property without due process of law."

What due process does the infant get?

The new GOP Platform makes that point, albeit subtly. Don't think Donald Trump doesn't understand exactly what he did.

I am opposed to the platform changes, though I understand the aim: Trump is trying to ease a lot of independents and Democrats into our coalition, and since abortion is at this moment, politically speaking, a state issue, why promise something you can't deliver anyway? The platform encourages st…