Trump Urges Supporters in Pro-life Gala Speech: Vote 'For Life,' GOP
President Trump called on pro-life supporters to vote "for life" on Tuesday, May 22, as he called for them to help keep the Republicans keep control of Congress. This urging from Trump followed a plan announced by the administration to ban abortion talks in funded family planning clinics that are funded by the federal government.
He echoed his earlier stance from back when he was running for president, as he spoke at the Susan B. Anthony List's "Campaign for Life Gala," an annual event that is now in its eleventh year.
In his speech, he has lambasted Democrats as he called for supporters to extend GOP control over Congress. At one point, he said that "Democrats like to campaign as moderates at election time but when they go to Washington they always vote for the radical (Nancy) Pelosi agenda down the line."
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He also brought up his campaign promise to defund Planned Parenthood. Earlier last week, the Trump administration has moved to bring back a rule forbidding federally funded family planning clinics from talking about abortion with their patients.
Planned Parenthood claimed that the plan is not far off from a "gag rule." The Trump administration, meanwhile, said that Planned Parenthood would still be able to continue receiving Title X grants provided that the money they use to pay for abortion is kept separate from those used for family planning services.
Since 1976, it has been forbidden by federal law to use federal funds for abortions, as the Washington Post pointed out. Even then, Planned Parenthood clinics that are funded in part by federal allocations are referring women to on-site abortions, a practice that will no longer be allowed under Trump's "Protect Life" rule.
"For the first time since Roe v. Wade, America has a pro-life president, a pro-life vice president, a pro-life House of Representatives and 25 pro-life Republican state capitals," Trump reiterated in his speech, recalling his pledge during his campaign to "stand with life."
"We know that every life has meaning and that every life is totally worth protecting," he went on to say. "When we stand for life we stand for the true source of America's greatness – it's our people. Our people are great," the president added.
"We're also seeking passage of the 20-week abortion bill which would end painful, late-term abortions nationwide," president Trump said during the pro-life event, before turning on the Democrats in the Senate who are "doing everything in their power to block it," according to him.
The Trump administration's seeming indifference to any impact their pro-life stance could make on Capitol Hill has earned him the respect of Christian conservatives. There's a "fearlessness" to the way his administration approaches pro-life issues, as Marc Thiessen of the Washington Post noted.
"Every life is sacred, and . . . every child is a precious gift from God," Trump emphasized on Tuesday in his speech.
