The Republican National Committee is drafting a 2024 party platform that could lead to changes in the GOP’s positions on key issues such as abortion, same-sex marriage, and immigration — reforms that will most likely reflect their leader’s beliefs, according to platform committee members and Trump allies.
In 2016, the Republican Party, on its route to selecting Trump for the first time, adopted a tight, conservative policy on gender and sexual orientation, despite efforts by the party’s more moderate section to soften the language. An identical platform was approved in 2020 when the COVID-19 epidemic made it difficult for party committees to meet and alter language. During the convention in Charlotte, North Carolina, Trump was picked as the party’s nominee for the second time.
A political party’s platform clearly states its positions on international and domestic affairs, but it is not binding and has no direct impact on the actions of elected officials or candidates. That platform, which Trump ran on in 2016 and 2020, advocates for a 20-week federal abortion ban. Since the 1980s, the Republican platform has expressed support for a constitutional amendment recognizing the sanctity and protection of human life, including unborn children.
Now, in 2024, the GOP will meet to craft its first platform since the Dobbs ruling, which eliminated the constitutional right to abortion over two years ago. The plank might play a significant role in establishing the ideas of a party recreated by the former president, who has been vocal about his opposition to a federal ban and prefers that this subject be left to the states.
Trump’s stance on reproductive rights has alarmed some anti-abortion activists and RNC members, who fear that the call for a “right to life” amendment may be removed from the platform this year.
The former president’s senior aides intend to alter and decrease the platform so that it is “in line” with the former president’s “vision for America’s future,” according to a memo sent to the party’s platform committee in June that ABC News received.
“He won the [2024 primary elections] historically,” a top Trump aide told ABC News.
“He represents the party. But it also represents voter preferences,” the adviser added. “I anticipate some of that will be in the platform.”
On CNN Sunday, Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, one of Trump’s leading candidates for running mate, advocated for the removal of the abortion ban from the GOP platform.
“Well, I think our platform has to reflect our nominee and our nominee’s position happens to be one grounded in reality,” Mr. Rubio said. “The reality is that the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade.” That essentially implies that voters in each state will now be able to decide how and to what extent they want to restrict abortion if any at all. Certain states will have limits. Certain states will not. And therefore, I hope our platform reflects our nominee.”
According to several people familiar with the process, most platform committee members or general RNC members have not yet received draft language for a new platform, even though some conversations and lobbying on the issues with Trump allies have been ongoing among leaders of key advocacy groups and some individuals.
The platform committee began meeting in Milwaukee on the evening of July 7 and has sessions set for Monday and Tuesday, according to a calendar obtained with ABC News. What the committee and complete membership decide will then be revealed to the entire RNC at their national convention, which begins on July 15 in Milwaukee.
For weeks, several more socially conservative RNC members and leading anti-abortion organizations have been outspoken about any platform discussions that could weaken the party’s abortion stance.
However, their efforts reached a fever pitch this week. Tony Perkins of the Family Research Council, who serves on the RNC’s platform committee, has stated that he will lead an attempt to create a “minority report” on the platform if the committee softens abortion language, which he believes will happen.
The Family Research Council, along with dozens of other conservative organizations, has recently launched a “Platform Integrity Project” that “seeks to work with the RNC and the Trump campaign for an open process that will help ensure the preservation of the GOP’s solidly conservative platform that contains longstanding pro-life, pro-family, and pro-Israel planks.”
“[The call for a right to life amendment] is not going to be in the draft platform,” Perkins told Newsmax this week, warning that the milder language on reproductive rights could influence the 2024 election because he believed the majority of the Republican base was firmly anti-abortion.
“I think it will temper the enthusiasm. It is unlikely to persuade people to switch sides. That is not going to happen. But elections are driven by energy, enthusiasm, and intensity. This lowers the intensity. “That’s the last thing we need,” he said.
However, one source acquainted with platform discussions told ABC News that much of the concern is overstated and that some regard any change as a full reconfiguration of the party’s ideas, which the source categorically disputes.
According to the source, the RNC will follow Trump’s current stance on abortion, which he repeated during last month’s debate.
“I believe that the loud voices are few and will eventually become little more than a squeaky wheel. “A vast majority,” the insider stated.
Other Republicans have voiced optimism that Trump’s positions will be represented in the platform.
“President Trump was the first president to support marriage equality when elected, and he has often claimed that the matter is settled. Based on polling of both Americans and Republicans, the subject is settled. I would hope that any attempts to “define marriage” in the RNC Platform would be abandoned in 2024 to bring it in line with national sentiment…and the law,” said Charles Moran, a Trump delegate in 2016 and 2020 and president of the Log Cabin Republicans, a national conservative organization that supports gay and lesbian rights.
The current RNC platform specifies that the party will “respect the authority of the states to decide such fundamental social questions” as marriage, which is “between one man and one woman.”
Ahead of the platform deliberations, several RNC members have expressed concerns that these critical committee meetings will be closed to the press and non-committee members, which they say will suppress the will of general party members, allowing Trump-aligned actors to implement changes without opposition.
Two emails sent by the RNC’s member services account and reviewed by ABC News detail the policy, which numerous party members claim has not been followed at previous conventions.
“In years past, the place was crawling with lobbyists and special interest groups trying to get specific line items for their clients on the platform,” a source familiar with the decision to close the meetings told ABC News.
In response to this decision, Perkins circulated a letter (which ABC News reviewed) addressed to RNC Chair Michael Whatley, urging party leaders to “lift this gag order and reinstate the normal procedure of allowing approved guests and media so that fellow conservatives can observe and participate in this important process.”
“A major issue is that it appears that the Republican National Committee and the Trump campaign do not want C-SPAN or anyone else to cover the committee hearings,” one member of another powerful committee, the rules committee, told ABC News.
“This would be a huge mistake since being on TV helps to keep everyone accountable while also keeping people respectful. Committee hearings held behind closed doors can rapidly devolve into accusations and name-calling. Many committee members will feel free behind closed doors to let their hair down and tell Trump’s social liberal spokespeople to go to hell,” the member said.