Tell the RNC to Protect Life in the GOP Platform

Written by Pastor Calvin Lindstrom

Will The GOP Uphold the Sanctity of Human Life?

On March 20, 1854, at a schoolhouse in Ripon, Wisconsin, the Republican Party was established to stop the expansion of slavery into western territories. Six years later, Abraham Lincoln was elected as the first Republican president. After Lincoln, 18 other Republicans have been elected to the office of President of the United States.

Since 1973, the Republican Party has officially opposed abortion in its party platform. The last party platform was produced in 2016 and addressed abortion in several ways.

• It supported state laws that ban abortion after twenty weeks and called for Congress to ban sex-selective abortions and abortions based on disabilities (p. 14).

• It stated, “We respect the states’ authority and flexibility to exclude abortion providers from federal programs such as Medicaid and other healthcare and family planning programs so long as they continue to perform or refer for elective abortions or sell the body parts of aborted children” (p. 24).

• It opposed school-based clinics that provide referrals or counseling for abortion and contraception (p. 34).

• It stated, “We, however, affirm the dignity of women by protecting the sanctity of human life. Numerous studies have shown that abortion endangers the health and well-being of women, and we stand firmly against it” (p. 36).

• It stated that American taxpayers should not be forced to fund abortion and called for a permanent ban on federal funding and subsidies for abortion and healthcare plans that include abortion coverage (p. 37).

• It spoke of China’s barbaric population control program, the two-child policy, and forced abortions and sterilizations (p. 48).

Though I think this language could have been stronger, and though the Republican Party could be far more consistent in its opposition to abortion, the official party platform has pro-life ideas, in total contrast to the position of the Democratic Party.

Will the Republican Party in its official party platform continue to advance pro-life ideas and policies? A 112-member body will decide this question and produce a new platform that will be presented to the delegates at the Republican National Convention, which will meet from July 15-18 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

According to Ballotpedia:

“The Platform Committee is made up of 112 Republican delegates to the national convention. Each state, territory, and Washington, D.C. has one male and one female delegate who sit on the committee. The delegates who serve on the committee are first elected or selected at state conventions in the Spring to serve as national delegates. Then, they are either elected by their fellow national delegates to serve on the committee or they are selected by a state executive committee.”

The two members from Illinois who will serve as two of the 112 are Laura Pollastrini and Alan Spitz. Both Pollastrini and Spitz have been active in Illinois politics for many years.

There are rumors and reports of an organized campaign to weaken or remove altogether the pro-life language from the GOP Platform. We have an opportunity to speak out in advance of their meeting by contacting these Illinois delegates who will vote to keep or jettison the pro-life plank in the Republican party platform.

Here are several challenges for you, dear reader.

1] Pray for these two delegates, that they might stand for the cause of life and truth.

2] Contact these delegates and encourage them to not compromise on the issue of life as the new platform is written.

3] Encourage others you know to do the same.

Take ACTION: Click HERE to email Illinois GOP Officials, including Platform Delegates Laura Pollastrini and Alan Spitz to urge them to uphold the platform plank on the right to life. Politely let them know that the sanctity of life is NOT a peripheral issue, but rather the cornerstone of any moral society and echoes the Founders’ words and intent in the Declaration of Independence.

The Republican Party platform is, in no way, a divinely inspired document, but it does represent the direction and goals of the Republican Party. A compromise in the platform will only give comfort to RINOS and traitors within the Republican Party, as well as carte blanche to radical, pro-abortion Democrats. May God have mercy.

How can we ask God to bless our nation if we allow thousands of pre-born babies to be killed via abortion every day? Why would God bless a nation that has slaughtered over 65 million pre-born infants since 1973?

Now is not the time for retreat — now is the time to double down and expose abortion cheerleaders for the extremists they are and to emphasize how the Right to Life is a fundamental and winning issue for our state and nation.

“The propitious smiles of Heaven can never be expected
on a nation that disregards the eternal rules of order and right,
which Heaven itself has ordained.”
~President George Washington
(Inaugural Address of 1789)

This article was originally published on June 11, 2024.