Trump’s Recent Change In Rhetoric Regarding Abortion Angers Those Who Are Pro-Life
Kristan Hawkins from Students for Life stops by to chat about Florida’s “Amendment 4” ballot proposal and Trump’s recent change in pro-life / pro-choice rhetoric.
If you haven’t heard about all of the chaos regarding the Donald Trump abortion fiasco, that’s probably because you’re a normal person. You’re busy going about your the normal things that you’re up to. There’s a lot of chaos in the political world right now, though, because as you know, on the right, there are a lot of pro-life conservatives who are kind of unhappy with Trump’s recent comments. So, we’re going to settle this. We’re going to lay this matter to rest because we have all of the answers. And if you believe that, I’ve got a bridge to sell you. Joining me is Kristan Hawkins, president, Students for Life. She’s one of the greatest minds on the subject and, you know, quite honestly, one of the people who, when it comes to this matter, isn’t afraid to get in the weeds and actually get your hands dirty and talk about this stuff. Kristen, thanks for coming on such short notice.
Thanks for having me, Tony.
So, first of all, layout for us. Why Amendment 4 in Florida is really gross. Because it objectively, it’s a very gross piece of legislation, a proposal to amend Florida’s constitution. Take it away.
Yeah. If passed, it will make Florida become California, Minnesota, Illinois on abortion. The amendment as worded says that it would nullify the Heartbeat Protection Act. Which we fought for years to pass in Florida, which has stopped Florida from being an abortion tourism state from most of the country. (Amendment 4) would legalize abortion through 24 weeks; 6 months, and it would allow abortions in “cases of health” a loose definition so if a mother. If a woman goes to a doctor and says I’m sad about being pregnant. The doctor could use that to say she’s having emotional distress, it’s affecting her health, and literally use it to allow abortions up until birth and takes away parental notification.
And not just for doctors, right? Isn’t this the amendment that allows individuals to go to any provider? So, you could go to a Planned Parenthood who is very open and honest that they’re willing to write any excuse, make up any kind of excuse possible to get you in and out again, like a, like a cattle facility, as I’ve heard it described by a former employee.
Absolutely. And with chemical abortions, that’s much more prevalent. You know, in the past, we’ve heard things like nurses trying to commit abortions in some states. But now the chemical abortion, she will be able to get the pills from anyone, even a sex predator, a rapist, will be able to order chemical abortion pills and feed them to his victim and continue to cover up his crime. I mean, this is this is abortion extremism. All of these abortion ballot referendums that you need to know. Tony, in all the states, they will make abortion legal in all trimesters up until the moment of birth.
Now, there are a lot of excellent pro-life organizations out there that track this. Of course, I know that Students for Life, a lot of other organizations that you work with do phenomenal work… There’s a lot of excellent places to go to that track this kind of stuff. This brings us to the controversy because and we’ll, we’ll play the clip here in a moment. Former President Donald Trump comes out on the campaign trail was, I’m not going to say cornered because you should get tough questions when you’re on the presidential campaign trail. But he was asked by an interviewer
… and this just everyone lost it. And so, a lot of the pro-life community, a lot of members who I’m even very close with said, you know, this is a complete betrayal of the pro-life movement. Ohh, how could they and might I say a little bit of pearl clutching like judge, jury decided it was time to bring out the executioner, “we’re done.” You know, maybe even threatened to hold the vote hostage. Kris, I got to be honest with you, I think this is so silly. I want to hear your take on it though. And please don’t, don’t pull any punches. Tell me what your initial reaction was and maybe a little bit after.
Yeah, I mean, my initial reaction is anger and devastation for the lives that will be lost if he’s elected, right? Because what he has signaled is that he is now a pro-choice candidate now. The campaign was very swift to come out immediately after that and said this is not a reflection on how he’s voting on Amendment 4. He hasn’t said that yet, but now we know for sure he supports abortions when babies have heartbeats. We also know for sure, based on many personal conversations that pro-life leaders have had with him, that he opposes abortion we know at least in the late term. So, he’s somewhere in the middle. We don’t know where. Um, and I think a lot of folks have always assumed that he was 100% pro-life. I’m not one of those people. So, I wasn’t as like shocked as most people. I think what is shocking is that this is a stupid campaign strategy that he’s undertaking because there’s no voter who’s voting for more abortion who’s going to then listen to his comment and be like, “you’re right, now I can vote for you.” If you’re voting for abortion, you’re voting for Kamala Harris. And I think what this demonstrated is in this election, we have Little Miss abortion up until the moment of birth: Kamala Harris, that’s one side. And then you have Mr. I’m uncomfortable with abortion. I don’t like it in some cases, Donald Trump. And that is now where we are at as pro-lifers when we have to consider who we’re voting for.
So, I agree that initially I was frustrated, but I wasn’t. Illustrated because I felt betrayed. I feel like you mentioned, and with a lot of individuals, I’ve never was never really particularly in the idea that Trump was some kind of great moral crusader in favor of pro-life stuff. Trump is who he surrounds himself with… He’s not necessarily the world’s greatest political philosopher, especially in the moral, political philosophy. And so, when you get into these conversations, it’s like we’re going into the it’s like when people ask Kamala Harris very deep questions about policy or any of the last five individuals who have been president of the United States or the vice president, you know, to consider deep moral philosophy. I think I can maybe list two Vice Presidents. You really had a finger on that kind of a pulse? I just don’t go to him for that kind of stuff #2 I don’t think that Trump necessarily knows any details about Amendment 4 at all, because he’s thrown all of his weight behind running for the presidency. I mean, seriously, do we honestly believe that Trump goes home every day and looks at every single ballot measure That’s up for, you know, his state come election time? I don’t think so. You know, but here’s my biggest take away on this entire on this entire situation. Trump has shown himself to be someone who can be reasoned with and convinced to go in a different direction. He’s shown this as a businessman. He’s shown this as an entertainer. He’s shown this as a candidate and as President he has changed his policies. He has changed where he comes based on where he comes from, based on who he talks with. And so, while I don’t defend, you know, him saying stupid things ever on any kind of policy prescription, he just says things. I just got to tell you, I don’t take things that he’s saying about this with the great amount of weight because people who are kind of shocked, there’s a little bit of shock to their anger. Like are you really like surprised? Like you said, people who were like they believed in like 100% super, extremely pro-life. And it’s like, why did you have him up on a pedestal?
And there’s still people in my comments. I posted a graphic today of like, the number of babies who will die of Kamala Harris is elected… the number of babies who die if Trump is elected. And then there’s this margin in between. And it’s like with my vote this November, I’m voting for this margin. And people are mad at me. And we’re like, Donald Trump is still pro-life. What are you doing saying babies are going to die? I’m like well first of all he just came out yesterday and said he supports abortions when babies have heartbeats so that’s not a pro-life position. Second of all, even if he were 100% pro-life politician and were reelected, the babies are still going to die because he hasn’t signaled that he’s going to stop and make all abortions illegal because he’s been saying abortion is a states’ issue but it’s interesting, I’m getting it from both sides, like people just unwilling to like understand and listen to what he’s saying. But you’re also right, he speaks off the cuff. I don’t think he fully thinks about a lot of things before he says them, which causes problems and confusion. He was cutesy last weekend where he said something like. “My administration is gonna be great for reproductive rights” and I was like “are you just trying to redefine reproductive likes rights?”
I’ll bet… honest to God, that he’s just trolling Kamala when he said that.
We should be on our guard. This is the thing. I am not a shill for the Republican Party. I work for the Republican Party, but I’m not a Republican Party activist. I’ve spent 18 years of my life leading a human rights movement and that’s how I will die. I’m a human rights activist. My job is to be a pain in the ***** of every politician: Republican, or Democrat, that’s my job and so we we’re not going to stop our work. You know yes, I’m still going to vote for Donald Trump because at the end of the day, this isn’t about tax policy. This isn’t something that’s just going to implement my bank account. More babies will die of Kamala Harris is elected. I morally cannot say I’m sitting this out. However, does that mean I’m just going sit back and accept this. No, we’ve created a document at the end of June right before the RNC, a new deal with the pro-life generation. And we have been asking President Trump and his campaign for months to sign on to this new deal. Everything in this new deal subscribes to his states’ rights philosophy that he should do if he really believes abortion should be a state’s rights issue. We need to put our federal taxpayer money where his mouth is and get us out of funding Planned Parenthood. He needs to stop it…. The Supreme Court may be issuing an emergency decision on a lawsuit pertaining to Tennessee and Oklahoma. Tennessee, Oklahoma pro-life states have, you know, moved quickly after Rowe reversed abortion. The Biden Harris administration is so pro-abortion, their HHS is withholding Title 10 money for contraception to Tennessee and Oklahoma because those states refused to refer women in their state to the Biden Harris abortion hotline. Let me just reiterate this. They’re so pro-abortion, they’re not sending taxpayer money for contraception into these states. Donald Trump should talk about that because they are weaponizing the federal government against pro-life states. So, there’s so much he could do as a president. Even being pro-choice, even deep my deep disagreements with him about abortion, there’s a lot we can work with him. That’s what he needs to be talking about. And so, I’m not I’m not giving up. I’m not, you know, just stumping for the Trump campaign. I’m the biggest pain in their butts. And I hope I am until the end of the election, and if he wins after that. But we also have to be pragmatic when we’re voting, because I’m not voting for a priest, I’m not voting for a pastor, I’m voting for a flawed politician. And my vote has the power to save some lives, not all lives, but some lives. And I take that very, very seriously.
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