AUGUSTA, Maine — A Republican National Committee panel on Monday approved a party platform influenced heavily by former President Donald Trump, but its softer stance on abortion is not sitting well with a segment of Maine conservatives.
The sole reference to the hot-button topic in the GOP’s bullet point-heavy platform adopted ahead of next week’s national convention in Milwaukee is a vow to oppose what the document calls “Late Term Abortion” while supporting mothers and policies including birth control and in vitro fertilization.
The two past Republican platforms were more extensive on the abortion front, with the party pledging to support a federal ban on the procedure after 20 weeks. Platforms do not bind any elected member of any political party, but they are the main symbolic way that federal and state parties debate the policy positions that can become party dogma.
This year’s draft platform — which echoes Trump in suggesting states should handle abortion — is a nod to the sensitivity of the subject. Although the former president clinched the Supreme Court majority that overturned abortion rights in 2021, he is wary of hurting his electoral case by embracing a federal version of abortion bans that have passed in states.
The platform’s abortion framing drew disappointment from social conservatives in Maine. Carroll Conley, the executive director of the evangelical-aligned Christian Civic League of Maine, said Tuesday he is “thankful that whoever is responsible for the change in this platform was not in charge” of the GOP in 1860 when it adopted a platform that sought to abolish slavery.
“I’m deeply disappointed,” Conley said of this year’s platform. “But once again, I’m reminded that Christians desiring to positively impact our communities, motivated by love for our neighbors, don’t rest our hope in a party or a candidate.”
Former Maine Republican Party Chair Demi Kouzounas, who is running against U.S. Sen. Angus King, I-Maine, in November, did not respond to requests for comment. She was among the 112 delegates on the GOP’s platform committee who met Monday to draft the document, according to a New York Times report.
Pastor Bob Emrich, a Republican who serves at Emmanuel Bible Baptist Church in Plymouth and who previously chaired the Christian Civic League, expressed frustration at the GOP for its move to “soften the position on abortion in order to gain points in a campaign.”
Emrich has not yet decided to vote against Trump come November but said he is “alarmed” at Trump’s influence in shaping the platform. He also said he hopes the platform gets changed at next week’s convention.
“The Republican Party is in danger of losing some of its most passionate base by surrendering on very important issues,” Emrich said. “I think it’s an attempt to appeal to maybe some soft Democrats or independent voters. There isn’t any middle ground on abortion.”
The 2022 election came in the wake of the high court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade. Democrats ran hard on abortion. After losing to Gov. Janet Mills, former Gov. Paul LePage blamed that topic for his poor showing. He awkwardly answered debate questions on it, including when he shocked allies by threatening to veto a 15-week abortion ban.
In Augusta, Republicans have unsuccessfully dug in against Mills-led efforts to expand abortion, but many of them have generally supported keeping Maine’s liberal laws on the books, including state Rep. Austin Theriault, R-Fort Kent, who is now trying to unseat U.S. Rep. Jared Golden, a Democrat and Marine veteran, in the swing 2nd District.
He did not mention abortion in a statement after getting asked about the new Republican platform. Instead, his campaign nodded to points of agreement with abortion-rights supporters in the wake of a February court decision in Alabama that effectively banned IVF, which sent national Republicans scrambling to avow support for the pregnancy treatment.
“Austin 100 percent supports IVF, access to birth control and giving expectant mothers the support they need,” Theriault campaign manager Shawn Roderick said, before pivoting to an unrelated criticism of Golden over not saying whether he will vote for President Joe Biden in November.
During its convention in April, the Maine GOP adopted a platform that declared support for “the sanctity of human life — from conception to natural death” and opposition to “the use of taxpayer funds for abortions or activities that run counter to the sanctity of human life.”
Trump, the first former president to become a convicted felon, faces numerous pending criminal cases but is leading the race while benefiting from Biden’s stumbles during a June 27 debate that resulted in numerous Democrats imploring the president to drop out of the race.
