WASHINGTON — At a press conference Wednesday on the state of the pro-life movement, Susan B. Anthony List president Marjorie Dannenfelser expressed her “cautiously optimistic” attitude that Trump will follow through on his commitment to appoint a conservative, pro-life judge to the Supreme Court and lead the fight against abortion rights.
Dannenfelser attacked the policies of the current administration, and noted its weaknesses. “The pro-life movement has never been stronger,” she said, “and our opponent’s position has never been weaker, despite what it looks like on the Supreme Court.”
In an interview with The Daily Caller, Dannenfelser reaffirmed her confidence in Trump to live up to his promises, though she noted the importance of the presumptive nominee surrounding himself with conservatives knowledgeable on social issues.
Trump has opposed abortion in his campaign “with the zeal of a new convert,” said Dannenfelser. When asked to comment on his previous statement that “Planned Parenthood does wonderful things,” she assured the audience that “Trump will continue to hear from us.”
Potential Trump running mate, retired Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn, recently identified himself as a “pro-life Democrat,” shortly after defending women’s “right of choice,” which once again led critics to scrutinize Trump’s commitment to pro-life causes.
Flynn’s recent flip-flop “made the project a whole lot harder,” said the lobbyist group’s president. “It’s impossible to motivate people with an unsure, non-sequitur candidate,” she added.
The Democratic Party today is a “different animal” than it was in 1996, Dannenfelser insisted, as it no longer takes the “safe, legal, and rare” stance that it did in the Bill Clinton years.
Presumptive Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton takes what Dannenfelser considers to be a “radical” stance, favoring restrictions on late-term abortions after 24 weeks that may pose health risks to the mother. Dannenfelser discredited Clinton’s apparent concession to abortion restrictions, and noted that restricting abortions in the end of the third trimester is essentially “allowing abortion any time before the baby’s birthday.”
Dannenfelser concluded that with Trump’s promises for the pro-life movement, as with anything, Americans must follow Ronald Reagan’s advice to “trust, but verify.”