We have often given partial summaries of all that President Trump has done for unborn children. This is the most complete list yet assembled in one place.
President Donald J. Trump has worked to defend innocent human life, a priority he embraced as a presidential candidate when he stated on January 23, 2016, “Let me be clear — I am pro-life.”
President Trump has kept his promise to the American people to defend innocent human life by repeatedly issuing pro-life statements and proclamations, by building up an Administration that fosters respect for innocent life throughout its agencies and programs, including in how it spends taxpayer dollars, and by taking steps to prevent infringement of religious freedom, conscience, free speech, and the rule of law.
Presidential Statements and Proclamations
“I believe it is the most basic duty of government to guard the innocent. With that in mind, I will veto any legislation that weakens current pro-life Federal policies and laws, or that encourages the destruction of innocent human life at any stage.”
Letter to the Speaker of the House of Representatives — January 18, 2019
“On this day, National Sanctity of Human Life Sunday, we mourn the lives cut short, and the tremendous promise lost, as a result of abortion. As a Nation, we must resolve to protect innocent human life at every stage. As President, I am committed to defending the Right to Life.
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“My Administration has repeatedly demonstrated its respect for human life and conscience at all stages. … Today, we recommit ourselves to protecting innocent life every day and at every stage.”
Proclamation on National Sanctity of Human Life Day — January 18, 2019
“Together we will work to save the lives of unborn children, so they have a chance to live and to love, to thrive and to dream, and to bless our nation and reach their full and glorious potential. . . .
“We know that every life has meaning and that every life is worth protecting. As president, I will always defend the first right in our Declaration of Independence, the right to life.”
Speech to 46th Annual March for Life — January 18, 2019
“Every person — the born and unborn, the poor, the downcast, the disabled, the infirm, and the elderly — has inherent value. Although each journey is different, no life is without worth or is inconsequential; the rights of all people must be defended.”
Proclamation on National Sanctity of Human Life Day — January 21, 2020
“Every child is a precious and sacred gift from God. Together, we must protect, cherish, and defend the dignity and the sanctity of every human life.”
Speech to 47th Annual March for Life — January 24, 2020
Trump Administration Accomplishments Protecting Life and Conscience
- Reinstated the Mexico City Policy to end Federal funding of foreign non-governmental organizations providing family planning abroad if they perform or actively promote abortion as a method of family planning.
- Expanded the Mexico City Policy to more than $8 billion in global health assistance provided by all Federal departments and agencies—without compromising U.S. support for global health programming, including women’s health programming.
- Nominated over 260 Federal judges confirmed by the Senate who will uphold the United States Constitution, including three Associate Justices of the Supreme Court.
- Wrote Congress in support of the following pro-life bills:
- No-Taxpayer Funding for Abortion and Abortion Insurance Full Disclosure Act of 2019.
- Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act.
- Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act.
- Published a regulation to prevent the commingling of taxpayer dollars funding the Title X family planning program with projects that perform, promote, or refer for abortion as a method of family planning.
- Allowed Title X family planning grantees to exclude, as subrecipients, organizations that perform or promote abortions.
- Funded 16 new organizations as Title X grantees, including State health departments, faith-based organizations, and several community health centers.
- Allowed State Medicaid directors more flexibility to set qualification standards for Medicaid providers, including requirements that may exclude abortion providers from the Medicaid program.
- Approved Healthy Texas Women family planning demonstration waiver to provide meaningful family planning and health services while fostering a culture of life and excluding abortion providers.
- Ended HHS funding for new medical research using human fetal tissue obtained from elective abortions, unless authorized by an ethics advisory board.
- Reissued guidance, Interaction of the Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act (EMTALA) and the Born-Alive Infants Protection Act of 2002, that hospitals may be required to screen, stabilize, and treat or transfer “every infant who is born alive, at any stage of development” including those born alive after abortions.
- Issued an Executive Order on Protecting Vulnerable Newborn and Infant Children, reinforcing requirement that all hospitals in the United States to provide medical treatment or an emergency transfer for infants who are in need of emergency medical care—regardless of prematurity or disability.
- Issued guidance to clarify that a hardship exemption from the Obamacare individual mandate is available if all affordable plans offered through the Federal exchanges in an individual’s area include abortion coverage, contrary to one’s beliefs.
- Issued final rules protecting religious orders, pro-life organizations, and other organizations and individuals that have religious or moral objections to providing coverage for contraceptives, including those they believe cause early abortions, in their health insurance plans.
- Issued regulations on Obamacare to protect life and conscience, including:
- Requiring Obamacare insurers to issue separate invoices for insurance coverage of abortions.
- Reversing Obama Administration’s efforts to force recipients of certain Federal funding to provide or pay for abortions.
- Created the Conscience and Religious Freedom Division within the HHS Office for Civil Rights, which:
- Issued a final rule to strengthen enforcement of Federal laws protecting the conscience rights of healthcare workers and entities; and
- Enforced Federal laws protecting conscience against the States of California and Hawaii that had required pro-life pregnancy resource centers to refer clients for abortions.
- Issued a Notice of Violation to California, formally notifying California that it cannot impose universal abortion coverage mandates on health insurance plans and issuers in violation of federal conscience laws.
- Sued the University of Vermont Medical Center after it unlawfully forced a nurse to assist in an elective abortion procedure over the nurse’s conscience-based objections.
- Ensured that no person is denied life-saving care during COVID-19 on the basis of disability or age after resolving complaints against the states of Tennessee, Utah, Alabama, and Pennsylvania over their Crisis Standards of Care triage plans.
- Opposes efforts at the United Nations to make abortion an international human right.
- Advocates for the protection of women and children, born and unborn, as a global health priority, including by building a coalition of countries representing over one billion inhabitants.
- The Trump Administration signed the Geneva Consensus Declaration, a historic document strengthening an international coalition to achieve better health for women, the preservation of human life, support for the family as foundational to a healthy society, and the protection of national sovereignty in global politics.
- Issued a 2018–2022 HHS Strategic Plan that recognizes a core component of HHS’s mission: to serve and protect all Americans “at every stage of life, from conception” and to advance global health security through respect for “the inherent dignity of persons from conception to natural death.”
- On January 24, 2020, President Trump became the first President to attend the annual March for Life in person, stating “Unborn children have never had a stronger defender in the White House,” to applause on the National Mall.
LifeNews.com Note: Dave Andrusko is the editor of National Right to Life News and an author and editor of several books on abortion topics. This post originally appeared in at National Right to Life News Today —- an online column on pro-life issues.
