Trump must restore anti-abortion policies in new term

The first days of Donald Trump’s return to the White House were marked by the signing of dozens of decrees involving policies promised by the president, mainly in the areas of immigration and the economy.

But these are not the only priorities of the new administration, which is beginning to shape the course of another prominent issue that generates a certain polarization in the country: abortion.

Measures to reverse the abortion policies of his predecessor, Democrat Joe Biden, were already observed in the first days of his term.

On the same day he took office at the White House, the first decision in this regard came with the closure of the government website implemented by Democrats ReproductiveRights.gov, linked to abortion rights.

The site’s presentation said it was focused on “reproductive health care, including access to birth control and safe, legal abortion care, an essential part of your health and well-being.” The page was created in 2022, shortly after the Supreme Court ruled in favor of life in the case Roe vs. Wade, who returned the freedom to legislate on the subject to the American states.

The Biden government then fiercely launched a campaign to promote abortion on demand, despite the court’s decision.

This Thursday (23), Trump announced another decision favorable to the pro-life agenda by granting pardons to 23 activists convicted by the previous government for actions related to the preservation of life.

Anti-abortion activists have been condemned for blocking entrances to abortion clinics or temporarily closing them. In a statement, Trump said the protesters were “persecuted” by the Democratic administration. “It is a great honor to sign this document”, added the president.

The signing took place one day before Washington hosts the 52nd annual edition of the so-called March for Life, an act that classifies abortion as “the most significant human rights abuse of our time”.

Another sign that the new administration will reverse a series of actions in favor of abortion is the choice of pro-life Catholics in the composition of the government. Among them are the vice president-elect, JD Vance, and the new Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, two prominent figures in the White House.

During his time as a senator, Vance took a direct stance against abortion. When he ran for Senate in 2022, his campaign website talked about “banning abortion” in the country. He is against measures against life, including in cases of incest or rape: “two wrongs don’t make a right”, he said on one occasion. For the vice president, the termination of pregnancy should only be considered at risk to the mother’s health.

Marco Rubio, who was also a Republican senator, is currently an active member of the Church of the Little Flower in Coral Gables, Florida, and has repeatedly defended pro-life agendas in his public speeches, contradicting the growing pro-abortion movement in the USA.

One of the excerpts of the executive order says that the terms “Woman” and “Man” will be defined as a person belonging, “from conception, to the sex that produces the large and small reproductive cells”, respectively.

In October last year, before the presidential elections, the now US Vice President, JD Vance, stated that Trump had “consistent opinions” about the federal government’s cut of funding for Planned Parenthood, the largest abortion provider in the country. .

According to the Daily Signal, the organization received a record $750 million in taxpayer funding under the Biden administration, while performing a record 392,000 abortions in 2023.

In the first months of 2024, a survey released last year by the abortion organization Society of Family Planning (SFP) also indicated an advance in the campaign against life by the Biden government. During this period, the US faced a significant increase in the national number of abortions performed.

Cutting Planned Parenthood’s funding would be a major setback for the organization and a victory for the pro-life agenda.

This Friday, the president ordered the cut of federal funds intended to finance or promote elective abortions. During the March for Life, which took place on the same day, he sent a message to the nation that said: “In my second term, we will once again proudly defend families and the rights of unborn children, protecting them from attacks by the radical left. “.

In 2017, Trump tried to move forward with the defunding of Planned Parenthood, but the proposal was blocked by then-House Speaker Paul Ryan and other Republicans who had no political interest in the initiative.

After the decision to overturn Roe vs. Wade, in 2022, there was expanded access to abortion pills in the USA, with the help of the Biden government, which allowed them to be distributed in pharmacies and even by mail, without requiring any personal medical supervision, only via telemedicine.

With Trump’s return, a change in this policy is expected to prevent the number of abortions in the country.

In June last year, the Supreme Court rejected a lawsuit by a group of pro-life doctors, the Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine, to ban mifepristone, the medicine contained in the pills, saying it did not have standing to sue. Despite the denial, the court did not evaluate the merits of the action, so new actions can be filed.

With the renewal of the American Congress and the Republican majority in both Houses, the measure has a strong chance of gaining strength.

As for a national ban on abortion, Trump has already signaled that this is not his intention in this second term. Even before officially becoming a Republican representative in the presidential elections, he had already indicated his position that each state should legislate on abortion, as it stands at the moment.

“This 50-year battle over Roe vs. Wade has taken the issue out of federal hands and into the hearts, minds and votes of people in every state. It was really something important. Now it’s up to the states to do the right thing,” Trump said in a video last year.

The Republican said he was in favor of exceptions in cases of rape, incest and to protect the mother’s life and in vitro fertilization.