Gayle Ruzicka, a member of the Republican National Committee (RNC) who served as a committee member for the GOP's efforts to finalize a new party platform, lashed out after the platform was approved without including "pro-life language."
Yesterday, the party unveiled a new platform, the first since 2016, emphasizing state-level control over reproductive rights in a post-Roe America. For the first time in many years, the platform excludes any reference to a 20-week national abortion ban or a constitutional amendment protecting the sanctity of life, in an attempt to cover up the party's radical position on abortion rights.
The 2024 platform references abortion only once, in opposition to late-term procedures. It otherwise delegates control of the issue to the states, arguing that the 14th Amendment "guarantees that no person can be denied Life or Liberty without Due Process, and that the States are, therefore, free to pass Laws protecting those Rights."
The document reads:
“After 51 years, because of us, that power has been given to the States and to a vote of the People. We will oppose Late Term Abortion, while supporting mothers and policies that advance Prenatal Care, access to Birth Control, and IVF (fertility treatments)."
This angered Ruzicka, who has made a name for herself as a conservative activist, talk show host, and leader in the socially conservative Utah Eagle Forum.
When asked for her thoughts on this development, she said:
"This has never happened before. I've done this several times. There [were] no committees. We've always had some committees where we could go in and work on a section of the platform, propose amendments, debate them, add them. I've done this many times."
"We'd take today and tomorrow we'd meet as a complete platform and sometimes there'd be more amendments. They didn't allow any amendments. They didn't allow any discussion. They rolled us, that's what they did ... whatever they told us they were going to do isn't what happened."
"I've never seen this happen before. I don't understand why they did it, and I'm extremely disappointed that we do not have any pro-life language."
You can hear what she said in the video below.
Ruzicka conceded that "there are good things in this platform" that she supports but noted that "this is the first time we don't have a pro-life platform" since she started attending these events in 1992.
She added:
"The platform simply says we oppose late-term abortion. Well, what about before that? There's nothing that even mentions the unborn baby at all. ... I've never been treated so badly, to have them force this vote on us before we even had a chance to read the platform."
"We didn't even have a chance to read it. They gave it to us but then they had a meeting with people speaking so we glanced through it but we didn't have time to study it and read it and then all of a sudden someone made a motion to vote on the platform."
"And that was it. They sent us home and said, 'Well, goodbye.'"
Republicans have reaped the consequences since the fall of Roe v. Wade. The GOP has been up in arms over the issue ever since it became clear voters would retaliate against them.
The first blow came just two months after Roe was overturned, when Kansas voters overwhelmingly rejected efforts to restrict reproductive rights in the state by moving to enshrine them in the state's constitution. Democrats have won in key contests ever since, a development largely seen as a reaction to the radical Supreme Court decision, which was only possible thanks to three appointments to the Court by Donald Trump. Trump has boasted that he was the one to overturn Roe, but now clearly seeks to whitewash that aspect of his record.
It probably shouldn't come as a surprise that the GOP is softening its language on reproductive rights—and Ruzicka was mocked for her remarks.
Former President Donald Trump has not specified when he believes abortion should be banned during a pregnancy.
However, he has expressed support for in vitro fertilization, following a highly unpopular Alabama ruling in February that granted frozen embryos the same rights as fetuses. Additionally, he stated he would not sign a federal abortion ban, noting the widespread unpopularity of the Supreme Court's 2022 decision to overturn Roe.
The Biden campaign contended that despite the platform's omission of a federal ban, Trump cannot be trusted to uphold his promises. In a statement, Biden campaign spokesperson Sarafina Chitika said Trump "has made it clear with his own words and actions what he will do if he regains power — rip away women’s freedoms, punish women, and ban abortion nationwide."
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