ORTL Executive Director Weighs in on Recent Political Events

July 23, 2024

Lois Anderson

Executive Director

I think we all need some time to process the historic political events that seem to be happening ever more frequently as this turbulent year progresses:

Early this year, the 2024 presidential primary season kicked off and quickly moved toward a historic repeat match-up between an incumbent president and the former president he ran against just four years ago.
This month, after decades of proclaiming full-throated support for the pro-life position, the GOP adopted a platform with significantly scaled-down language on pro-life issues.
On July 13, a 20-year-old shooter attempted to assassinate former President Trump at a Pennsylvania rally, killing one rally attendee and seriously injuring two others. Trump was grazed, narrowly escaping a fatal injury.
Days later, the Republican National Convention demonstrated the energy and unity of the party faithful.
On Sunday, President Biden announced via a letter posted on X that he was dropping out of the race.

Let’s begin with the most recent event. President Biden, after a month of pressure from donors, party leaders, and others, announced Sunday that he is withdrawing as a candidate for President. Shortly thereafter, he announced his endorsement of his running mate and current vice president, Kamala Harris. For context, this is the first time in history a presidential candidate has dropped out after winning the Primary. Two candidates, President Harry Truman (March 29, 1952) and President Lyndon B. Johnson (March 31, 1968), dropped out early in the nominating process and Primary elections.

That is one reason why no one really has answers to the question: what happens now? As we move closer to the Democratic National Convention in August we will learn more – but for now, we’re in uncharted territory.

One thing we do know is that support is coalescing around Vice President Kamala Harris. We also know that she is a pro-abortion radical who, in the words of National Right to Life president Carol Tobias, is “an abortion apologist who represents the extreme pro-abortion position of the Democratic Party.”

And then we have to address the horrific assassination attempt that nearly ended Donald Trump’s life in Pennsylvania.

Trump is, unfortunately, not alone in facing such an attempt. A quick review of our history will reveal several assassinations and assassination attempts on sitting presidents and presidential candidates. These acts of violence are not just tragic incidents: they are attacks on us, the American people. They are assaults on our social contract that safeguards our commitment to settle our political differences through public debate and the electoral process, not violence.

The assassination attempt was a dramatic lead-up to the Republican National Convention and changed the state of play within the Republican Party. Prior to the events of July 13, pro-life and pro-family leaders had been planning a minority report in an attempt to return stronger pro-life language to the GOP platform, which employed language that was much more vague than past platforms. There had been significant communication and negotiation behind the scenes among Republicans and prominent pro-life advocates. Some pro-life leaders accepted the new GOP platform language as the best we could get for now, while others pushed for more robust commitments.

But further efforts to insert tougher pro-life protections were scuttled in the aftermath of the shocking assassination attempt against Trump.

While the 2024 GOP platform is a disappointment, we will have the opportunity in the future to make changes. There is no room for doubt that the Trump/Vance ticket presents a far better path for pro-life protections than the prospect of a Kamala Harris administration.

Today, amid this chaotic time in history, I encourage you to resist the temptation to “move on” without taking time to process what happened. It is important to take inventory of what our reactions to these events reveal about our hearts and minds.

While we may all have varied interests in going down the proverbial rabbit holes of fact patterns, conspiracies, or just spilling tea, we must keep our focus where it should be: doing all we can to advocate for the most vulnerable who are daily threatened by legal abortion, infanticide, and euthanasia.

The fact is, there is so much we don’t know – and won’t know – in the coming days, weeks, and months.

But as we move forward, let us be the calm, resolute, rational person in any discussion. In uncertain, changing times, our families, friends and communities need trusted voices. Let’s be there for them and for the vulnerable who have no voice.