The pro-life movement made a big league deal with Donald Trump, and they should praise him for keeping it.
Trump critics are upset at various moderating statements he made in his 60 Minutes interview on issues such as immigration, Obamacare, and gay marriage.
That makes it all the more striking what Trump did not even slightly hint that he is wavering on:
“The judges will be prolife.”
Pro-life leaders should certainly remain vigilant to see these promises through to completion. But part of vigilance is praising someone when they say they will honor their promise.
You don’t make a contract with someone and then publicly insist the person intends to break it. That’s counterproductive and downright rude. Part of vigilance is positive reinforcement.
We should praise not only Trump but also pro-life leaders who negotiated this yuge deal. Christians critical of Trump often minimize the importance of the Supreme Court with a straw man, saying that all pro-lifers got was a quixotic chance to overturn Roe v. Wade.
That is seriously incorrect.
Hillary’s court would not have merely kept Roe. It would have redefined it into a super-duper “equality” right, reversing past 5-4 decisions to force all taxpayers to fund abortions, legalize partial birth abortions, and coerce organizations to participate in the abortion process by insisting abortion “access” trumps religious freedom.
The pro-life movement prevented that catastrophe by abandoning vagueness when it comes to the courts. Gone are generic promises for “strict constructionist” judges. Instead, we have a promise of “pro-life” judges, and more than that, we have a pre-approved list of great nominees. Nothing is left to chance.
(This, by the way, is why people should stop suggesting Senator Cruz for the court. He’s wonderful. But he’s not on the list.)
Mr. Trump made his promises so concrete that he told Hugh Hewitt if he veers from his list, Senator McConnell could block his nominee–as he just blocked President Obama’s nominee. Because, Trump said, he intends to pick from the list. And he is still saying it now.
Pro-lifers should remain vigilant, but not by being Negative Nancys. They should praise President-elect Trump for continuing to insist he will keep his side of the pro-life deal.