Guest Post by Pro-life Leader Frank Pavone, National Director, Priests for Life
President Trump recently announced that he would vote NO on Amendment 4 in Florida – a ballot measure which, similar to nine others on the ballot across the country – would amend the state Constitution to allow for practically unrestricted abortion and take away the ability of the people and their elected representatives to protect the unborn or regulate abortion in reasonable ways.
For reasons I’ll explain below, I always thought that President Trump would vote against Amendment 4.
The “catch Trump on abortion network” NBC News started the confusion with this interview. This led some pro-life activists to mistakenly conclude that opposition to Florida’s six-week law meant he would vote in favor of Amendment 4. But his campaign had to point out that he had not said how he would vote on Amendment 4. And then, of course, he reassured us that he would indeed vote NO on Amendment 4.
There are several takeaways from this.
1. Pro-life leaders and activists have to stop using the Fake News media as their channel of communication with President Trump. What I mean is that controversy after controversy about his stand on abortion has been initiated by the Fake News media, particularly NBC, eager to politically trap him in his words and erode the enthusiasm of pro-life voters. (Aside from the one mentioned above, see here and here and here. Will NBC let any others take a turn?)
President Trump doesn’t hide from the media and, of course, is responsible for what he says. But he doesn’t rely on the media as his primary vehicle of communication with us, and neither should we. He has his own websites and social media accounts, on which he posts statements and videos regularly. He even has his own Technology and Media Group! He gives rally speeches constantly. We should watch them. And he speaks frequently to the “parallel media,” the new, free-speech media, as we see with X (his recent interview with Elon Musk) and Rumble, not to mention, of course, his own Truth Social.
Why are we so easily disoriented by left-wing media, especially amidst a heated political campaign? Why would we let them set the agenda? And why do so many think that a social media post or a soundbite in an interview are equivalent to federal policy? Aren’t we more savvy than that?
2. So why did I believe President Trump would vote against Amendment 4, despite his expressed opposition to Florida’s current six-week abortion law? Two simple reasons.
First, from when he first started running for President, Trump has been vocally opposed to late-term abortion. It was a turning point in his third debate with Hillary in 2016 when he said that ripping the baby out of the womb late in pregnancy “might be OK with you but it’s not OK with me.” He spoke regularly in his State of the Union addresses and in his rally speeches about the need to end late-term abortion. He consistently uses the Democrat support for unrestricted abortion as the clear signs that they, not we, are the extremists on this issue.
And second, President Trump has expressed his strong conviction that the states now decide abortion policy, and that the decision of each state should be respected by the federal government, by the other states, and by all the people. But when you look at Amendment 4 (and the similar amendments in the nine other states), you see that they tie the hands of the people and their lawmakers, rendering it unconstitutional for them to take any further action not only to limit but even to regulate abortion. it’s now a “constitutional right.” That only empowers one side of the abortion debate, and shows no respect for the legislative process or the will of the people moving forward.
So if you believe the people of a state should be able to protect their unborn children, you’re opposed to Amendment 4 and the other nine abortion amendments.
3. What the combination of President Trump’s opposition to both Amendment 4 and to Florida’s six-week limit does is to give “prochoice” people “permission” to oppose these extreme ballot measures. In other words, the fights over these ballot initiatives are not about making abortion illegal. They are about imposing abortion without limits.
So the choice in Florida is not between Amendment 4 and the six-week limit. The choice is between Amendment 4 and the right of the people and their lawmakers to set what limit they want. Many people thing 6 weeks is too early, but not 12, 15 or 20 weeks. They don’t want to be limited to a choice between a 6-week limit or abortion-until-birth.
If Amendment 4 and the nine other amendments are defeated, the people in those ten states can still set abortion policy, and those who want to change any existing law can draft a bill. The legislatures are open for business. And if not enough people agree that the abortion law should be changed, well, welcome to the club. You just need to do what we’ve had to do for 50 years: make the case to your fellow citizens in robust, open debate, persuade them, elect lawmakers and governors who agree, introduce bills, and lobby for their passage. But this is precisely the process that abortion supporters fear, because it would reveal what abortion actually is, and how extreme the Democrats are about it.
And that’s exactly what President Trump has been doing. God bless him for it.
