Daniel Darling: A broader focus

NICK EICHER, HOST: Today is Tuesday, August 6th. Good morning! This is The World and Everything in It from listener-supported WORLD Radio. I’m Nick Eicher.

LINDSAY MAST, HOST: And I’m Lindsay Mast. World Opinions Commentator Daniel Darling now on what pro-lifers need to understand about the new core of the Republican party.

DANIEL DARLING: Many pro-life activists were understandably upset at the new language proposed by the Republican Party’s platform committee for adoption at this year’s convention. The GOP’s wording offers a head nod toward the sanctity of human life but lacks the robust moral language that was part of the platform for 40 years. Several pro-life groups petitioned the committee to reverse this decision while others signaled that they could work with the scaled-back draft. In the end, the draft passed without much comment. The silence has to do, in part, with the new core of the Republican party.

Political parties are, by necessity, a coalition of coalitions. Every few years, the voting maps shift. In this current moment, the Republican Party has won over large segments of disaffected, unchurched, non-college-educated, working-class voters who either sat out previous elections or voted for Democrats. This has led to surprising GOP gains in Midwestern and Rust Belt states.

These voters form the core of Donald Trump’s voting base. These are the folks who show up at rallies and enthusiastically voted for him in primaries. And these folks are often lumped together with churchgoing evangelical Christians, both by pundits and self-appointed prophets who confuse faithful church ladies with the rally goers who wave “Let’s go Brandon” signs. There is alignment between these two voting blocs when it comes to casting ballots in November, but there is some divergence on important issues— including abortion.

The new unchurched, working-class Republicans will vote for pro-life candidates, as they did in 2016. But while churchgoing evangelicals and Catholics vote Republican primarily because of social issues such as life, liberty, and family formation, this new cohort prioritizes other issues, such as immigration and trade. This is one reason why a state like Ohio, which overwhelmingly votes red in elections, also voted in favor of a 2023 referendum expanding abortion rights.

As a reaction, the Trump campaign has tried to soften its approach to abortion, including adjusting the platform language, opposing six-week bans in red states, and approving the abortion pill. This is reflective of the desires of his strongest voting bloc.

So how should pro-live activists react? One thing we should not do is yield to the temptation to take our ball and go home. Leaving the political process only cedes more influence to those who don’t share our pro-life convictions. Instead, we should stay and fight, urging our leaders to courageously stand up for the unborn and train them to articulate the moral language that helps Americans see human dignity in our most defenseless neighbors. Pro-life activists have always had to fight for influence in the Republican Party, whether it’s been the country club set from a generation ago or today’s populists.

We should also recognize reality and adjust our outreach. The pro-life cause has been primarily focused on winning over those to the left of us. This moral witness should continue, but we must recognize that there are many to the right of us who do not yet understand that the baby in the womb is a human being worthy of the promises of America’s founding documents.

This means resisting calls from our coalition to water down our ethical instincts, recognizing political realities, and joyfully educating our neighbors, whether they bear rainbow flags or red hats.

I’m Daniel Darling.

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