October 15, 2024
If we told you that the entire pro-life movement was in total agreement and lockstep with politicians and each other on what we wanted to achieve and how, would you believe it? You shouldn’t, because even good friends and allies don’t always see eye to eye.
But a recent claim in a Snopes article shared by Yahoo seems to suggest otherwise. In the article, Snopes pulls from multiple pro-abortion sources, arguing that the pro-life movement is shifting the goal posts on definitions, and even waiting with winks and smiles for a federal abortion law from a leader that has made it clear he’s not going to sign.
One source, pro-abortion author Jessica Valenti, even said that calling for a minimum national standard is “the rhetorical equivalent of crossing their fingers behind their back.” The article concludes on that specific framing, saying, “as far as we can tell, a ‘minimum national standard’ would still effectively ban some abortions nationwide, possibly with exceptions for rape, incest or the life of the mother. Because of that, it is clear that abortion-rights advocates consider the ‘minimum national standard’ proposed by some conservative politicians and the anti-abortion movement tantamount to a federal abortion ban.”
The twisting of reality here demands a response. Speaking only for ourselves, Students for Life Action (SFLAction) has always supported a national abortion law that protects the life of the mother and baby alike, from conception if possible.
And we have a very long and established paper trail to prove it.
We have always supported exceptions for the life of the mother, not only because it’s a sensible and morally right pro-life position, but because all 50 states already have this protect in place. This has been fact-checked and proven by the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) who state, “(E)very state has an exception that allows for an abortion needed to save the life of the pregnant person.” The AAMC goes even further to say, “To date, no physician has been criminally prosecuted in any state for providing an abortion that was due to a medical emergency.”
The article focused on the oft-cited 15-week standard, wrongly signaling it to be the “minimum standard” that pro-life organizations like SFLAction want. We have made it abundantly clear in the past that we want something stronger than a 15-week restriction, and have stood up on numerous occasions to argue that case. Below are just a few of the many examples:
- Townhall Op-Ed: What the Pro-Life Generation Hopes President Trump Will Commit to on the Human Rights Issue of our Day : “I was and continue to be proud to support the work of President Trump, as are many. The Pro-Life Generation wants a pro-life champion like President Trump to win, especially considering the radical abortion policies of President Biden. But we strongly urge President Trump not to endorse a federal late-term limit on abortion at 15 weeks or later. While such a late-term line would be a win in California, many states across the country have embraced the worth of both mother and child much earlier.”
- The Blaze Op-Ed: Kristan Hawkins’ Latest Op-Ed: Believe it or not, Trump’s strategy could pave the way for more pro-life wins : “But the former president had plenty to say in his short video that deserves unpacking — and that still sets him apart from the most pro-abortion administration in U.S. history. At issue is a 15-week national abortion law, which Republicans such as Senator Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) support. Just last month, Trump hinted he might support such a law. The trouble is, the vast majority of abortions — more than nine in 10 — occur within 12 weeks of pregnancy…. Worse, if a national 15-week ban ever went into effect, it could foster a European-style stalemate, where laws would be difficult if not impossible to change decades later.”
- SFLAction Rally in Arizona: ROUND FOUR: Students for Life Action Returns to Arizona Capital to Rally Against Senate Vote That Would Allow More than 94% of Abortions : “The repeal vote passed the Arizona House last week thanks to three GOP legislators who joined forces with the pro-abortion Democrats, betraying the Pro-Life Generation and putting thousands of preborn babies at risk. If the Senate votes to repeal succeeds, another Arizona law that allows for more than nine in 10 abortions, only limiting abortion at almost four months (15 weeks of pregnancy), will take effect.”
- Open Letter to President Trump: SFLAction Calls on Former President Donald Trump to Clarify his Disappointing Remarks on Heartbeat Laws; Complete Candidate Survey to Understand his Pro-Life Vision : “In fact, as our own You Gov/Demetree Institute for Pro-Life Advancement polling shows, heartbeat abortion limits and limits when a baby can feel pain, poll basically the same, but a limit at heartbeat clearly will save more lives than waiting until 15 weeks, as more than 9 in 10 abortions take place by 12 weeks.”
President Trump has made it very clear he believes that abortion is a states right issue – a stance we have disagreed with him on. However, because we’re taking the President at his word about what he intends to do if elected, we are focused on what we can accomplish within that framework. As SFLA President Kristan Hawkins wrote in an open letter, “Because [Trump] has said he wants to take abortion out of the federal government, we do have a long list of actions he can start taking the moment he is sworn in like appointing cabinet members who aren’t abortion activists like a Health & Human Services Secretary who won’t force abortion in every state, an Attorney General who will stop putting praying grandmas in jail, etc. Plus, there’s the $700 million dollars flowing from taxpayers to Planned Parenthood, the nation’s largest abortion vendor, that he can stop.”
If abortion is not a federal issue, abortion organizations like Planned Parenthood shouldn’t get federal funding. Simple as that.
READ THE FULL LIST: An Open Letter to Pro-Life Americans: Trump and the Future of our Movement
We likewise explained in SFLAction’s Pro-Life New Deal that we want to see an end to the weaponization of government agencies against preborn lives and pro-life organizations alike, “Pro-life Americans don’t expect political leaders to have all the answers, which is why we are laying out for the GOP our framework for a New Deal to ensure an end to the weaponized pro-abortion policy that has tainted the Biden-Harris record.”
SFLAction has also made it clear that President Trump and Sen. Vance are still far and away the best option to protect preborn lives in Washington D.C. – the Harris-Walz tickets odious brand of abortion extremism is the worst in modern American history. If elected, they would drive hard to codify something worse than Roe into law, ensuring that abortion through all nine months is the new “minimum standard” across the nation. All the pro-life laws that we have worked so hard to pass would be undone.
SFLAction’s Kristan Hawkins wrote in a TownHall op-ed that pro-life voters need to take this threat seriously: “I truly believe that writing in a nonsense name or sitting out this election would be a moral wrong – not only for the lives of children who are on the line but for the future existence of our movement, for our very right to continue to recruit, educate and mobilize. However, if President Trump is elected, you and I both know we will have a lot of work in store for us as we will have to do battle with pro-choice members of his Administration.”
Snopes and the pro-abortion activists in the press and the Democratic party can come to whatever wrong conclusions they wish about what they think they see. But SFLAction’s record speaks for itself, and we will never advocated for “a total ban without a single exception.” Nor do we accept Snopes’ framing that “the “‘minimum national standard’ proposed by some conservative politicians and the anti-abortion movement [is] tantamount to a federal abortion ban.”
If this is what the pro-abortion left has been reduced to with less than three weeks to go in the election – conjecture and mass generalizations – then they must really be getting desperate.