Donald Trump has won over a major anti-abortion leader who once warned women against voting for him.
Marjorie Dannenfelser, president of the Susan B. Anthony List, will head a new “pro-life coalition” the Republican presidential nominee is forming in the remaining weeks before the November election, as he promises to advance some major priorities of abortion foes.
Trump was the last-choice Republican candidate for many social conservatives, including Dannenfelser, who earlier this year joined a letter warning Iowa voters not to vote for Trump because they were “disgusted” by his treatment of women.
She remained skeptical after Trump won the nomination. But on Friday her group released a letter signed by the GOP presidential nominee in which he promises to oppose abortion in four key ways if elected president.
Trump wrote that he would strive to defund Planned Parenthood, nominate abortion-opposing justices to the Supreme Court, sign a ban on abortions midway through pregnancy and try to make permanent the Hyde Amendment prohibiting taxpayer-funded abortions.
Those are big priorities for conservatives, who are irate at Democrats for their recent push to ditch the longstanding Hyde Amendment. Hillary Clinton, who supports expanding abortion rights including later in pregnancy, has called during her campaign for removing Hyde language.
Dannenfelser’s group has especially pushed for a so-called “pain capable” ban on abortion at 20 weeks of pregnancy, based on the idea a fetus can feel pain at that point of development. She said “the contrast could not be clearer” between Trump and Clinton on the issue of abortion, in a statement released Friday.
“Not only has Mr. Trump doubled down on his three existing commitments to the pro-life movement, he has gone a step further in pledging to protect the Hyde Amendment and the conscience rights of millions of pro-life taxpayers,” Dannenfelser said. “For a candidate to make additional commitments during a general election is almost unheard of.”
Much of Trump’s letter also slams Clinton for her support for expanding abortion rights. It’s crucial to rally “advocates for the unborn” to oppose the Democratic presidential nominee, he wrote.
“Hillary Clinton not only supports abortion on-demand for any reason, but she’d take it a step further: she wants to force the taxpayers to pay for abortions by repealing the bipartisan Hyde Amendment,” the letter says. “Hillary Clinton also supports abortion until an hour before birth. And she will only appoint Supreme Court justices who share this view.”
The written commitment to opposing abortion could go a long way in winning over other social conservative leaders, but no other members of the coalition were announced Friday. SBA List said it would announce co-chairs later in September.
