The first year of the second Trump administration has been a mixed bag for the pro-life movement.
A report from the abortion activist outfit the Center for Reproductive Rights (CRR) highlights the “pros” side of the Trump administration’s first year. CRR claims that “the Trump administration has further decimated abortion access during his first year back in office,” including:
- The pardoning of pro-life activists convicted of violating the FACE Act.
- Implementing “a new policy that would prevent veterans on VA health insurance from having abortions even in cases of rape, incest, or severe health risks.”
- “Forcing clinics to close or reduce services nationwide by taking away their Medicaid funding. About 50 Planned Parenthood health centers have since closed.”
- Launching “an FDA investigation into the abortion pill, which could make it much harder to access.”
- Calling “birth control an “abortifacient” in order to “destroy millions of dollars in contraception headed for African countries,” which CRR claims could lead to over “1.5 million unintended pregnancies.”
The “cons” side of the chart has been significant. Trump has consistently pushed for IVF, pitching a range of policies and urging the Republican Party to “own” the issue. He has advocated compromise on the Hyde Amendment, which bans the use of tax dollars for abortion and has saved millions of lives. Worst of all, his administration has approved a generic new abortion pill that will “normalize” pill abortions even further and make it increasingly accessible even as the percentage of such abortions exceeds 60% of the U.S. total.
All of this must be called out by pro-lifers, and the political arm of the movement must fight these policies. They have been doing so, and there is evidence that pro-life lobbying made Trump’s IVF policies significantly less damaging than they might have been.
We should also not be surprised. Donald Trump is a pragmatic, pro-choice politician who has stacked his administration with many pro-life figures and sees the pro-life movement as a political ally without sharing many of our principles. Trump made this crystal clear during the 2024 election, when he removed the pro-life plank from the GOP platform, advocated against six-week abortion bans, and emphasised his support for the abortion pill.