WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump delivered his Day One promise to the anti-abortion movement four days into his second term: He pardoned nearly two dozen anti-abortion activists convicted of federal offenses that included using physical force to block access to and invade abortion clinics, as well as for threats to clinic staff and patients. And after months of Trump distancing himself from the abortion issue and a week of lobbying by anti-abortion leaders, the president and Vice President J.D. Vance spoke at the movement’s annual March for Life rally on Friday.
“I am proud to be the first president ever to have joined you in person,” Trump said in a video recorded in the Oval Office, referring to his 2020 appearance, to the cheers of an estimated tens of thousands of activists and students gathered on the National Mall.
But the president failed to offer specific federal policy plans to further the movement’s goal of banning abortion nationally and gave what appeared to be a scripted speech that evoked religious language, referring to every child as “a beautiful gift from the hand of our creator.” He touted the controversial Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization decision that ended federal abortion rights and the pardons he issued Thursday. Trump insisted, as he did throughout his campaign, that the abortion issue has returned “to the state legislatures and to the people, where it belongs.”
“In my second term, we will again stand proudly for families and for life. … We will work to offer a loving hand to new mothers and young families, and we will support adoption and foster care,” Trump said, but did not offer specific plans. As during his campaign, he accused Democrats of supporting abortion until “after birth,” a falsehood.
Vice President J.D. Vance, who spoke on stage after Trump, to raucous applause, referred to the anti-abortion movement as “our movement” and emphasized the need for government to make it easier for people to afford kids. Vance also did not name any policy plans the administration would pursue, beyond potentially raising the child tax credit. Vance said he and the president support the recent abortion bill that passed the U.S. House this week, which would have created penalties for health care professionals who don’t provide medical care for babies born after an attempted abortion. U.S. Senate Democrats blocked the bill arguing it was unnecessary and could have prevented parents from making decisions.
Vance, who was criticized during the presidential campaign for his comment about “childless cat ladies,” doubled down on the idea that a “culture of radical individualism” has taken root in this country and called for more Americans to reproduce.
“Our society has failed to recognize the obligation that one generation has to another is a core part of living in a society to begin with,” Vance said. “So, let me say very simply: I want more babies in the United States of America.”
Many activists at the march celebrated the return of a presidential administration friendlier to the anti-abortion cause than the Biden administration. Several sported red Make America Great Again hats, while others expressed reservation about Trump, following his shifted abortion language during his presidential campaign.
“When Trump went kind of more pro-choice, really, for a lot of us, we felt abandoned,” said Bryan Gebhart, a parent helping to chaperone about 45 students bussed from St. Francis DeSales High School in Columbus, Ohio. He told States Newsroom he didn’t vote for Trump, but for the American Solidarity Party, a minor political party based on Catholic teachings.
“I would like to see an end of abortion at the federal level,” Gebhart said, noting that banning abortion nationally is a long-term effort and unlikely to be realized during Trump’s second term.
Already, Trump has received praise from anti-abortion leaders. In its first week, his administration scrubbed information from its national health site about reproductive rights and abortion access and withdrew the U.S. from the World Health Organization, which anti-abortion news outlet LifeNews referred to on X to as the “Pro-Abortion World Health Organization.”
But some anti-abortion leaders are also concerned that the new administration is not fully committed to their cause. For the first time since federal abortion rights were overturned in 2022, Republicans control the White House, Congress and the U.S. Supreme Court. But unlike his major policy pronouncements in other areas, Trump has not signaled any major federal actions to limit abortion. In fact, he has repeatedly said he would veto a federal abortion ban, would not prohibit the mailing of medication abortion via the Comstock Act of 1873 and says he supports in vitro fertilization, something many in the anti-abortion movement oppose. Trump continues to take credit for overturning Roe v. Wade, despite the decision’s unpopularity, but campaigned as a moderate on abortion, which he says is a state issue.
“This is not just a states’ rights issue; this is a federal issue that must be remedied by this court or by a constitutional amendment,” said Mark Harrington, who runs the Ohio-based Created Equal group, on Wednesday at an event in front of the Supreme Court to commemorate the 52nd anniversary of the Roe decision. Several leaders said they were disappointed by the lack of a statement from the White House on the anniversary.
Harrington later told States Newsroom he plans to speak out if Trump does not deliver on some of the movement’s major asks, such as eliminating family-planning federal funding to reproductive health organizations and reinstating regulations to abortion drugs.
“We have to be a witness, calling truth to power and reminding him that we helped him get elected, and he better come through for us and the unborn or else — obviously, he’s not getting reelected, but his successor is not going to get our support,” Harrington said. “We’re not going to lay down and play dead, I hope. But a lot of people have been lured to sleep because of Trump’s popularity.”
Terrisa Bukovinac’s Progressive Anti-Abortion Uprising group is affiliated with several of the activists who were serving prison sentences for blockading abortion clinics until the Trump pardons. Bukovinac told States Newsroom that while she is grateful for Trump’s action, she no longer considers Trump and Vance to be “pro-life.”
“Trump has come out in favor of the abortion pill, and so has Vance,” Bukovinac told States Newsroom. “Trump has been clear, and I believe him when he says that he has no intention of setting any kind of federal abortion restrictions. I mean, that’s what we’re fighting for. That’s what the movement is trying to do, and Trump is like, no. So it’s not ideal, but I am optimistic about the things that we can get, … like get FACE repealed.”
The U.S. Department of Justice said Friday it would scale back on prosecuting abortion-clinic protest cases under the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act, according to the Washington Post.
Bukovinac said her group will continue to fight for full repeal of the law, which Democratic President Bill Clinton signed into law in 1994 after a spate of deadly abortion protests. The Biden administration cracked down on a resurgence of these tactics of physically blocking reproductive health clinics and then resisting arrest and prosecuted dozens under the federal law, including attacks on anti-abortion pregnancy centers, which the law also protects. Anti-abortion activists have claimed the Biden administration disproportionately prosecuted those who oppose abortion.
The Chicago-based nonprofit legal group the Thomas More Society filed petitions on behalf of 21 of the 23 pardoned individuals, arguing Biden’s Justice Department weaponized the law, which is also how Trump has justified his more than 1,500 day-one pardons and commutations of individuals who invaded the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, some of whom violently attacked police officers.
Brittany Fonteno, the CEO and president of the National Abortion Federation, which tracks violence and harassment at abortion clinics, told States Newsroom she is concerned the Trump administration is going to turn a blind eye to dangerous events at abortion clinics.
“What we’ve seen is that over the years, and in particular after the Dobbs decision, there has been a stark increase in violence and disruption from anti-abortion activists and advocates,” Fonteno said. “We’ve seen an increase in burglaries and arson and threats to abortion providers, and we anticipate that that will only increase with this new administration, as anti-abortion extremists are empowered and emboldened to try to create a culture of fear around abortion care.”
Aside from the anti-abortion pardons, none of Trump’s many executive orders issued during his first week in office concerned abortion.
Thus many in the anti-abortion movement are far from confident that Trump will make abortion more difficult to access, let alone get closer to their larger goal of enshrining fetal personhood rights in the U.S. Constitution.
But some leaders were reassured by a different executive order Trump signed, related to another Christian-right issue: gender. He issued an order on his first day in office that says the U.S. will only recognize two genders, declares that “‘Female’ means a person belonging, at conception, to the sex that produces the large reproductive cell,” and “‘Male’ means a person belonging, at conception, to the sex that produces the small reproductive cell.”
Anti-abortion groups, such as Students for Life of America, viewed the order as a win for the so-called fetal personhood doctrine.
Other leaders have praised some of Trump’s appointees for their anti-abortion positions such as Attorney General appointee Pam Bondi and Secretary of State appointee Marco Rubio.
Though many were disappointed that Trump’s Health and Human Services appointee Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has supported abortion rights, they are still working to wield influence in this critical agency.
Students for Life of America president Kristan Hawkins posted this week on X that an alum from her group “will be serving in a key role at HHS! This is a great sign for life saving measures to come!” She also posted a picture of herself holding a “Defund Planned Parenthood” sign alongside Republican Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, who also spoke at the March for Life. Hawkins wrote in the post, “Speaker Mike Johnson is on board! Planned Parenthood, we’re coming for you next.”
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