Even before his Supreme Court nominations led to the reversal of Roe v. Wade, President Donald Trump was lauded as the “most pro-life president in American history.” It was then-Vice President Mike Pence who handed him the laurel. But it was the pro-life movement’s perpetuation of this claim that made it real.
Trump was elevated to the status of a pro-life hero but, in reality, his Supreme Court nominations appear to have been driven by political convenience rather than genuine personal conviction.
Bestowing this title upon Trump was natural for a movement that had been fighting to overturn Roe for half a century. However, this has allowed the second Trump Administration to settle into the complacency of a job only halfway completed, flashing this title to virtue signal away any dissatisfaction among the pro-life base.
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Appointing justices to the Supreme Court who overturned the flawed rulings in Roe and Casey was not enough. The rising number of abortions post-Dobbs is proof that living in a world absent a fictitious constitutional right to abortion is not the end of the work Trump committed to initially.
Trump has continually held that he believes abortion is an issue to be resolved by the states. But he is not oblivious to the problems this poses. After all, a bright red line can be drawn between the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and Trump himself, and the FDA’s mail-order abortion regime renders a “state’s rights” position moot.
Defending abortion pill deregulation adopted under the Biden Administration has allowed abortion advocates to engage in abortion lawfare. Pro-abortion legislators and governors have gone so far as to wage war by means of adopting abortion shield laws, attempting to nullify pro-life laws that prevent abortion pill trafficking.
Trump has allowed this chaos to ensue, stretching thin the limited capacity of the courts when federal law is already clear. Provisions within the Comstock Act, currently left neglected and unenforced by the Trump Department of Justice, already prohibit mailing abortion-inducing drugs across state lines.
But this is nothing compared to Trump’s greatest promise left unfulfilled: completing the FDA review his administration promised soon after the start of his second term. If the results of the independent review hold true to what the 2025 analysis of health claims data by the Ethics and Public Policy Center suggests, the administration would be nearly obligated to, at minimum, restore in-person dispensing requirements along with other commonsense safeguards abortion bureaucrats have slashed since the original approval.
Even excusing Trump’s inaction as political strategy increasingly fails to hold water. Recent Cygnal polling shows the abortion pill issue is also an electoral issue for the GOP. When likely Republican primary voters were surveyed, a supermajority of 80% “believe the FDA should again require in-person visits for chemical abortions.”
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The Trump administration’s continued tolerance of mail-order pills has not only allowed the abortion industry to compensate but expanded the number of monthly abortions after the fall of Roe, despite many pro-life victories since. Where brick-and-mortar clinics are closing, abortion pills have taken their place and, barring action by the administration, abortion will continue to become more virulent than ever.
Trump cannot be allowed to rest on his wilting laurels and tout the title of “most pro-life president” while continuing to let his inaction fail women and wilt the morals of the nation.
Gavin Oxley is a pro-life media and policy strategist, currently serving as media relations manager for Americans United for Life. Follow him on X @realgavinoxley.
