• Skip to main content
  • Skip to secondary menu
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
Catholic Review

Catholic Review

Inspiring the Archdiocese of Baltimore

Menu
  • Home
  • News
        • Local News
        • World News
        • Vatican News
        • Obituaries
        • Featured Video
        • En Español
        • Sports News
        • Official Clergy Assignments
        • Schools News
  • Commentary
        • Contributors
          • Question Corner
          • George Weigel
          • Effie Caldarola
          • John Garvey
          • Father Ed Dougherty, M.M.
          • Guest Commentary
        • CR Columnists
          • Archbishop William E. Lori
          • Rita Buettner
          • Christopher Gunty
          • George Matysek Jr.
          • Father Joseph Breighner
          • Father Collin Poston
          • Robyn Barberry
          • Hanael Bianchi
          • Amen Columns
  • Entertainment
        • Events
        • Movie & Television Reviews
        • Arts & Culture
        • Books
        • Recipes
  • About Us
        • Contact Us
        • Our History
        • Meet Our Staff
        • Photos to own
        • Books/CDs/Prayer Cards
        • CR Media platforms
        • Electronic Edition
  • Advertising
  • Shop
        • Purchase Photos
        • Books/CDs/Prayer Cards
        • Magazine Subscriptions
        • Archdiocesan Directory
  • CR Radio
  • News Tips
  • Subscribe
Pro-life demonstrators in Washington celebrate outside the Supreme Court June 24, 2022, as the court overruled the landmark Roe v. Wade abortion decision. Pro-life groups indicated they plan to seek commitments from 2024 Republican presidential contenders on their positions on abortion in what will be the first presidential election cycle since the decision. (OSV News photo/Evelyn Hockstein, Reuters)

Pro-life groups seek commitments on federal abortion limits from 2024 GOP contenders

March 22, 2023
By Kate Scanlon
OSV News
Filed Under: 2024 Election, Feature, News, Respect Life, World News

WASHINGTON (OSV News) — Pro-life groups indicated they plan to seek commitments from 2024 Republican presidential contenders on their positions on abortion in what will be the first presidential election cycle since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned its Roe v. Wade decision.

A report by the Washington Post said Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America is likely to insist GOP presidential candidates sign a pledge stating that they will back federal legislation banning abortion at a minimum 15 weeks of pregnancy. Students for Life Action is likewise developing a survey in which the group plans to ask GOP presidential candidates for their positions on an array of issues, from whether their potential cabinet nominees would oppose abortion to the types of legislation candidates would support.

“The pro-life vote must be won, and our polling shows that the majority of Americans, even young Americans, don’t want abortion for any reason through all 9-months, which is what Roe stood for,” Students for Life Action President Kristan Hawkins said.

“Rather, the expectation from our pro-life generation base is to not have a defeated spirit and accept the bare minimum protections for the preborn,” she said, “but to take every chance possible to ensure life is protected from the moment of conception to natural death.”

The Supreme Court’s June decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization overturned its previous rulings in Roe v. Wade (1973) and Planned Parenthood vs. Casey (1992) that had found abortion access to be a constitutional right, and effectively returned the matter of restricting or permitting abortion to the states.

However, in the months that followed the Dobbs ruling, voters in Kansas, California, Kentucky, Michigan, Montana and Vermont either rejected adding new limitations on abortion or approved adding legal protections for the procedure.

Additionally, in the Nov. 2022 midterm elections — an election cycle generally seen as a referendum on the incumbent U.S. president — Republicans underperformed some analyst expectations of a “red wave” in Congress due to President Joe Biden’s low approval ratings over inflation. But Republicans failed to win control of the Senate and won only a slim House majority.

Some analysts pointed to former president Donald Trump’s ongoing national presence making him a sort of quasi-incumbent, and candidate quality issues with Republican candidates in crucial contests, as factors in Republican’s relatively poor showing at the polls.

However, Trump sought to pin the blame for the Republican Party’s underperformance in the 2022 midterm election cycle on pro-life voters, prompting criticism from even some of his supporters. In a Jan. 1 Truth Social post, Trump claimed “it was the ‘abortion issue,’ poorly handled by many Republicans, especially those that firmly insisted on No Exceptions, even in the case of Rape, Incest, or Life of the Mother, that lost large numbers of Voters.”

“Our hope is that if nominated, President Trump would unequivocally commit to protecting the most vulnerable in our society and stop listening to his swamp-like consultants to blame pro-life groups as a scapegoat for the 2022 elections,” Hawkins said.

SBA did not immediately respond to an inquiry from OSV News seeking clarification on whether they would ultimately back a Republican nominee who did not pledge to support a 15-week federal limit pledge in the general election. They instead pointed to a Nov. 15, 2022 issued by the group arguing the eventual Republican nominee must back “minimum national protections for the unborn.”

Trump’s only major Republican rival who is formally running for president is former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations and South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley. Others, including Gov. Ron DeSantis, R-Fla., Sen. Tim Scott, R-S.C., and former Vice President Mike Pence, are seen as likely contenders.

Although the declared and likely GOP contenders have run current or previous campaigns as opponents of abortion to varying degrees, it is not yet clear if they would specifically embrace a 15-week federal abortion limit as their primary campaigns progress.

Hawkins, however, said her organization wanted to press even further for a “pledge to protect children with detectable beating hearts at six weeks or before.”

“While 15 weeks is a standard set by some in the pro-life movement, Students for Life Action believes if you’re not addressing early-term abortion, abortions in the first trimester, you’re not addressing abortion at all,” she said.

Asked whether her organization would like to see commitments on safety net items for women and families facing unplanned pregnancies, Hawkins said, “we also support a myriad of policies to lower the cost of adoption, increase family leave, support pregnancy resource centers, and other actions to ensure families are supported before and after pregnancy.”

Read More Respect Life

Nevada’s Catholic governor who campaigned as ‘pro-life’ signs some abortion protections into law

Assault outside Planned Parenthood office leaves pregnancy center employees shaken

South Carolina governor signs six-week abortion ban into law

Despite growing use, abortion pill not ‘safer than Tylenol’

War against creation must stop, pope says in message for day of prayer

A testimony of faith and love: conjoined twins born, baptized and at peace in God’s arms

Copyright © 2023 OSV News

Print Print

Primary Sidebar

Kate Scanlon

Our Sunday Visitor is a Catholic publisher serving millions of Catholics globally through its publishing and communication services. Kate Scanlon is a national reporter for OSV News covering Washington. Follow her on Twitter @kgscanlon.

View all posts from this author

For the latest news delivered twice a week via email or text message, sign up to receive our free enewsletter.

| MOST POPULAR |

  • Assault outside Planned Parenthood office leaves pregnancy center employees shaken
  • Missionary of mercy priest: ‘Be Christ to all people’ in a world ‘hungry for the Word’
  • Movie Review: ‘Padre Pio’
  • ‘God’s Scribe’: Father Breighner retires popular column after more than 50 years
  • Bishop Victor Galeone, former Archdiocese of Baltimore priest and bishop of St. Augustine, dies at 87

| Latest Local News |

‘God’s Scribe’: Father Breighner retires popular column after more than 50 years

Bishop Victor Galeone, former Archdiocese of Baltimore priest and bishop of St. Augustine, dies at 87

Assault outside Planned Parenthood office leaves pregnancy center employees shaken

| Latest World News |

Dodgers’ faith night ‘not enough’ to address controversy over LGBTQ+ group, anti-Catholic concerns

Nevada’s Catholic governor who campaigned as ‘pro-life’ signs some abortion protections into law

Pope names Cardinal Farrell next head of Vatican City high court

| Catholic Review Radio |

CatholicReview · Catholic Review Radio

Footer

Our Vision

Real Life. Real Faith. 

Catholic Review Media communicates the Gospel and its impact on people’s lives in the Archdiocese of Baltimore and beyond.

Our Mission

Catholic Review Media provides intergenerational communications that inform, teach, inspire and engage Catholics and all of good will in the mission of Christ through diverse forms of media.

Contact

Catholic Review
320 Cathedral Street
Baltimore, MD 21201
443-524-3150
mail@CatholicReview.org

 

Social Media

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Twitter
  • YouTube

Recent

  • Dodgers’ faith night ‘not enough’ to address controversy over LGBTQ+ group, anti-Catholic concerns
  • Last week, I got to just be Mom
  • Nevada’s Catholic governor who campaigned as ‘pro-life’ signs some abortion protections into law
  • Pope names Cardinal Farrell next head of Vatican City high court
  • Senate approves House-passed debt ceiling deal, avoiding default
  • Profit-at-all-costs is not a good business model, pope says
  • Farewell and thank you
  • ‘God’s Scribe’: Father Breighner retires popular column after more than 50 years
  • Expertos esperan avances en salud, discapacidad y ministerio hispano en la reunión de junio de los obispos de EE.UU.

Search

Membership

Catholic Press Association of the United States and Canada

Maryland-Delaware-DC Press Association

The Associated Church Press

© 2023 CATHOLIC REVIEW MEDIA, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED