One of the nation’s leading pro-life groups says it met with former President Donald Trump on Monday in the wake of comments he made that were criticized by the organization.
Marjorie Dannenfelser, president of Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America, said she joined U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham and Tony Perkins of the Family Research Council “for a terrific meeting with President Trump.”
“During the meeting, President Trump reiterated his opposition to the extreme Democratic position of abortion on demand, up until the moment of birth, paid for by taxpayers – and even in some cases after the child is born,” she said. “President Trump believes such a position is unworthy of a great nation and believes the American people will rebel against such a radical position that aligns us with China and North Korea.”
Trump, she said, “knows the vast majority of Americans oppose brutal late-term abortions when the child can feel pain and suck their thumbs.”
“President Trump reiterated that any federal legislation protecting these children would need to include the exceptions for life of the mother and in cases of rape and incest,” Dannenfelser said. “Protecting unborn children capable of feeling pain would align America with the civilized world and with 47 out of 50 European nations.”
She further said Trump “was the most consequential in American history for the pro-life cause.”
In April, Dannenfelser released a statement criticizing Trump for saying the issue of abortion should be decided at the state level. At the time, she called it a “morally indefensible position for a self-proclaimed pro-life presidential candidate to hold.”
Trump’s comments came less than a year after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade.
“We will oppose any presidential candidate who refuses to embrace at a minimum a 15-week national standard to stop painful late-term abortions while allowing states to enact further protections,” Dannenfelser said in April. “The Supreme Court made clear in its decision that it was returning the issue to the people to decide through their elected representatives in the states and in Congress. Holding to the position that it is exclusively up to the states is an abdication of responsibility by anyone elected to federal office. This holds especially true for the president, more than any other federal official, because he or she has a responsibility to forge national consensus and progress on the most egregious human rights violation of our time.”
Photo courtesy: ©Getty Images/Jeff J Mitchell/Staff
Michael Foust has covered the intersection of faith and news for 20 years. His stories have appeared in Baptist Press, Christianity Today, The Christian Post, the Leaf-Chronicle, the Toronto Star and the Knoxville News-Sentinel.
