There is nothing “moderate” about the Republican platform on abortion

The political press has been falling for transparently phony Trump gestures of moderation since he came down the escalator at Trump Tower in 2015. It’s even more embarrassing to enroll in this particular program at Trump University when he actually spent four years in office being a more orthodox Reaganite than Reagan. And yet Republicans are offering a platform advocating for abortion to be banning abortion in all 50 states via judicial fiat, and yet way too many outlets are following Trump’s instructions to assert that Republicans are “moderating” on abortion:

A leaked draft of the new Republican party platform says that fetuses have a constitutional right to personhood, a radical stance in a moment when Americans overwhelmingly oppose bans and want abortion to be legal. And despite headlines to the contrary, the GOP’s abortion plank still supports a national ban.

But because political reporters and mainstream news outlets have fallen for a Republican disinformation campaign, the platform’s new language is being covered as a ‘softening’ on abortion rights. 

The stakes are high so I’m not going to mince words: This is about as big of a fuck up as it gets. So let’s get into it.

Here’s the new abortion plank in its entirety:

We proudly stand for families and Life. We believe that the 14th Amendment to the Constitution of the United States guarantees that no person can be denied Life or Liberty without Due Process, and that the States are, therefore, free to pass Laws protecting those Rights. After 51 years, because of us, that power has been given to the States and to a vote of the People. We will oppose Late Term Abortion, while supporting mothers and policies that advance Prenatal Care, access to Birth Control, and IVF (fertility treatments.)

The GOP’s platform has invoked the Fourteenth Amendment for years for a reason. As law professor Liz Sepper tweeted today, it “commits to constitutional personhood for fetuses…[and] takes the view that it is not a mere statute but rather the constitution that bans abortion nationwide.”

The claims to support “Prenatal Care” and “access to Birth Control” are outright lies, but on their support for a nationwide abortion ban they’re not even lying, just getting the media to say up is down.

Anyway, the salient facts are that Trump will sign any abortion ban Congress puts on his desk and pack the federal judiciary with anti-abortion fanatics. Going along with his claims of moderation is just “Mark Uterus” all over again.