Lila Rose voting for Trump after months of criticizing his abortion position
After months of criticizing former President Donald Trump, the Republican presidential nominee, for adopting an insufficiently pro-life position on abortion, pro-life activist Lila Rose announced that she is voting for him in the election.
Rose, the founder of the pro-life advocacy group Live Action, explained her decision in a lengthy X post on Saturday, noting that she "opposed both Donald Trump’s and Kamala Harris’ positions on abortion over the last few months."
“Over the past few days, media, allies and friends have asked me who I will be voting for on November 5th,” Rose noted. “I will be voting for Donald Trump.”
Rose’s statement reflects the fact that Trump has drawn the ire of pro-life activists, including Rose, for insisting that the legality of abortion should be decided on a state-by-state basis following the U.S. Supreme Court’s Dobbs decision.
The 2022 Dobbsdecision determined that the U.S. Constitution does not contain a right to abortion, overturning the 1973 Supreme Court decision Roe v. Wade.
Rose supports federal action to ensure that all children, “no matter how he or she is conceived, has a right to be given a chance at life.”
“Abortion is not a ‘states’ rights issue.’ Abortion is a human rights issue, and it is already unconstitutional under the 14th Amendment, which declares that no state shall ‘deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law,’” she insisted.
While many states have implemented strong pro-life protections following the Dobbs ruling, others have gone in the opposite direction and passed extremely permissive abortion laws.
After sharing her belief that “both of the two main political parties actively espouse anti-life policies” and asked, “what’s a pro-life voter to do,” Rose asserted that “no pro-life voter should vote” for Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris.
“As attorney general of California, she selectively prosecuted pro-life journalists who exposed Planned Parenthood selling baby body parts, a federal crime,” Rose explained. “Harris also used her power as AG to attempt to force pro-life pregnancy nonprofits in California to post abortion advertisements in their clinics.”
“Harris opposes conscience exceptions for healthcare professionals, meaning she supports forcing healthcare professionals and hospitals, including those of faith, to commit abortions or lose their ability to practice medicine. Along with opposing all restrictions, Harris supports taxpayer-funded abortion.”
Describing “the recurring message in nearly every interview and speech Harris gives” as “her unflinching support for abortion,” Rose condemned her embrace of “the most pro-abortion campaign in American history.”
“She not only stands against the rights of preborn children, but she actively works to thwart the rights of pro-life Americans, including conservatives and Christians, to advocate for those children,” Rose said.
The pro-life activist expressed disappointment that the 2024 Republican Party Platform was “gutted” of “pro-life and pro-marriage principles” at the insistence of “President Trump’s allies.”
Rose also criticized the Trump campaign’s support for abortion pills, the infertility treatment in-vitro fertilization condemned by pro-lifers for leaving some embryos created by the process “destroyed,” opposition to a federal abortion ban and the candidate’s criticism of pro-life laws implemented following the Dobbs decision, including a six-week abortion ban in Florida.
At the same time, Rose acknowledged that Trump had appointed three of the Supreme Court justices who helped overturn Roe, calling it "a tremendous milestone for the pro-life movement.”
“For Trump to oppose many of these pro-life laws, when it was his judicial appointments that paved the way for them, is a tragedy and a wasted opportunity,” she stated.
Rose detailed how she recently “had the opportunity to meet privately with President Trump” to discuss her disagreements with him on the issue of abortion.
“Some progress was made," she reported. "When enough pro-life allies expressed outrage and threatened to withhold their vote, Trump reversed his position on Amendment 4, which would legalize abortion through all nine months in his home state of Florida, and expressed his opposition to it."
"Kamala Harris’ policies and record on abortion are objectively worse than Trump’s. If Trump doesn’t win on November 5th, it will be Kamala Harris who will assume the presidency.”
Rose concluded by stating that "I believe it is crucial that we continue to speak boldly against any anti-life policies that Trump may advance" should he be elected president.
Ryan Foley is a reporter for The Christian Post. He can be reached at: ryan.foley@christianpost.com