GOP 2024 policy platform softens abortion language
MILWAUKEE - While the Republican National Convention officially starts Monday, July 15, thousands of delegates are already in town, working on the Republican Party’s platform.
On Monday, July 8, the RNC's platform committee approved the party's platform before it heads to the convention floor next week. Some aren't happy with the Republican Party's official stance on abortion.
The platform highlights 20 issues, including immigration, the economy and crime, but does not include a national abortion ban.
Abortion language
"I think from a historical perspective, a platform is very important," UW-Milwaukee Professor Emeritus Mordecai Lee said. "It’s very significant whenever a party does something that’s sort of out of the ordinary."
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The platform reads, in part, "we will oppose late-term abortion, while supporting mothers and policies that advance prenatal care, access to birth control, and IVF."
Lee said it’s vague.
"If you’re the Republican Party and you want Donald Trump to win Wisconsin, you want fuzziness," he said.
It omitted the explicit basis for a national ban for the first time in 40 years.
President of the Family Research Council Tony Perkins called the platform "unbecoming." He said during Monday's meeting, delegates had no time to look it over before a vote was called.
On the other hand, some Republican voters in Wisconsin are happy about the platform's wording when it comes to abortion.
"I’m hoping that will pull in more votes for the Republican Party," Robin Babcock said.
Democratic response & undecided voters
Meanwhile, Democratic voters call it dishonest.
"The more vague Republicans keep their actual intended policies, they can garner in the more undecided, more centrist voters onto their side," Patrick Green said.
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The scaled-down platform — just 16 pages and with limited specifics on many key Republican issues — reflects a desire by the Trump campaign to avoid giving Democrats more material for their warnings about the former president's intentions if he wins back the White House.
"You really have to face the decision – am I a single issue voter?" Lee said regarding undecided voters.
The delegates will approve the platform on the convention floor sometime next week.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.