Lopez: GOP platform has lost its way

Pro-life people believe abortion to be the human rights issue of our lifetime, one with eternal stakes. With the Republican Party's changes to its platform regarding abortion, it's hard to believe the GOP is in the cause for the long haul — never mind the eternal. The platform no longer calls for an end to abortion, opting instead for the leave-it-to-the-states position. This platform and likely presidential nominee Donald Trump have abandoned any even nominal claim to the moral high ground.

Lauren Onak, vice-presidential candidate for the American Solidarity Party, is a pro-life convert who recently talked with me not just about saving babies but also helping people with immigration status and housing. If you are going to have an abortion because you don't have anywhere to live, some pro-life people want to offer help. That's the work of civil society — sometimes making use of government resources.

If abortion is about human rights, ignoring women and children who need help is unacceptable

It doesn't have to be this way. Henry Hyde, the late congressman, said something that remains true today: "The public virtue of hospitality has been grievously violated by abortion liberty," he said. "And so, we must do better and we must do differently," he said. "We must reclaim the heritage of public hospitality. We must become again become again a people capable of welcoming new life, weak life, dependent life, into our midst — and cherishing it," Hyde went on.

Onak is running with presidential candidate Peter Sonski. While they are not seriously expecting to have to move to D.C. come January, they have the right idea in wanting to offer an opportunity for Americans who feel politically homeless to vote in keeping with their values. Their platform is largely based on Catholic Social Teaching, even while they aim to be ecumenical.

The Republican Party of 2024 does not reflect this thinking. Catholic convert Ohio Republican Sen. J.D. Vance has declared his support for abortion pills, which cruelly leave women and girls alone to see the demise of the remains of their unborn children. I listened to him speak about the vulnerability of teen girls to the pro-abortion message at an Ohio March for Life in October 2023. But that was then. Republicans now believe they have no responsibility beyond their home states. And maybe not even entirely there — Vance, in a "Meet the Press" interview, cited an erroneous interpretation of a recent Supreme Court decision. He and Trump have both said it approved of abortion pills, when it was a mere ruling on standing that did no such thing.

Hyde's above quotes came before Roe v. Wade was overturned, but his words are relevant to Republicans who might want to seriously consider their abortion positions on something based on more than what Donald Trump wants and the prospects of the next election. The American Solidarity Party is a winning ticket this year, only inasmuch as it captures something of the pro-life vision — loving and welcome — that is all too often lost today. At least someone is giving it a try.

klopez@nationalreview.com