The stakes of the 2020 elections are even higher than in 2016
The following is an exclusive excerpt from Life Is Winning: Inside the Fight for Unborn Children and Their Mothers
I hope the Democratic Party returns to its pro-life roots and embraces the vision, laid out so eloquently by the late Governor Bob Casey, of a nation that cares for mothers and children. It is long overdue for both major parties to adopt a principled stance in favor of life. Make no mistake, though: the person most responsible for the Democrats’ (and our nation’s) soul-searching on the issue of life is Donald Trump.
Nancy Pelosi told The Washington Post the life issue was essential to Trump’s victory: “That's why Donald Trump is president of the United States — the evangelicals and the Catholics, anti-marriage equality, anti-choice. That's how he got to be president. Everything was trumped, literally and figuratively by that."
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The stakes of the 2020 elections are even higher than in 2016. The possibility of another Supreme Court vacancy — one that could tip the scales even further in favor of eroding Roe — looms large. It is arguably the biggest motivating factor in congressional Democrats’ drive to delegitimize President Trump’s election, undo his pro-life policy victories and stop him from winning a second term.
President Trump understands; as he has told me more than once, and as he perceptively told the crowd gathered on the National Mall for the March, “They are coming after me because I am fighting for you and we are fighting for those who have no voice.” The abortion lobby understands Roe’s days are numbered. So must we.
More than any other president before him, President Trump has put the end of abortion in reach. As my friend Vice President Pence is fond of saying, life is winning in America. When we win elections, we change laws that in turn will help restore to America a culture that respects life, supports mothers, and nurtures babies at every stage of development – a nation in which the Founders’ vision of an “inalienable right to life” for every person, from conception to natural death, is a reality.
No president or political leader, however bold, can fulfill such an aspirational vision alone. Speaking at SBA List’s Gala in May 2017, Vice President Pence said, “I truly believe we’ve come to a pivotal moment in the life of this movement – in the life of our nation. And in this moment, President Trump needs all of you to let your voices be heard – to continue to stand up and speak out, as if it's the most important moment in the history of our movement – because it is.
We need every ounce of your energy and enthusiasm. We need your determination and conviction, your passion, and we need your prayers. We need you to continue to embody the spirit of Susan B. Anthony – the namesake of this organization and our gala tonight, the great defender of women’s rights.”
This is the pivotal moment, and no one who cares can fail to engage. Like every successful human rights movement before us in our nation’s history, we must leverage the tools of our democracy. SBA List has redoubled our efforts to re-elect President Trump and protect the crucial pro-life Senate majority, contacting more than eight million voters ahead of Election Day – by mail, phone, digital, and directly at their door. Not only are we connecting with our base but also to Independents and Democrats who are repelled by the party line.
The Pro-life Movement will push to at last defund Planned Parenthood and prevent taxpayer funds from subsidizing the abortion industry through federal health care programs. We will work for judges at all levels who uphold the constitutional right to life. We will fight to pass laws protecting women from dangerous abortion facilities and to protect babies from painful late-term abortions.
We will continue working to defeat abortion extremism and elect pro-life champions, women and men, to public office. We will prepare in earnest to receive mothers in crisis with care and compassion and to welcome precious children whose lives have been spared – each little boy or girl irreplaceable and intended for this world, with a purpose only he or she can fulfill. And we will not rest until Roe v. Wade is reversed and abortion is no longer the law of our great and good land.
Marjorie Dannenfelser is president of the national pro-life group Susan B. Anthony List. She serves as national co-chair of the Pro-Life Voices for Trump coalition and is the author of the book "Life is Winning."
