FROM SFLA NEWS

SFLAction Calls on Former President Donald Trump to Clarify his Disappointing Remarks on Heartbeat Laws; Complete Candidate Survey to Understand his Pro-Life Vision 

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Kristi Hamrick - 18 Sep 2023

Reporting on news from our sister organization Students for Life Action:

“Heartbeat Laws are far from terrible. They should be an absolute minimum for any Republican candidate committed to protecting many from death by direct abortion,” said Students for Life Action’s Kristan Hawkins in her letter. 

WASHINGTON D.C. (09-18-2023) – Students for Life Action President Kristan Hawkins sent a letter Monday to former President Donald Trump, following an extremely disappointing interview given over the weekend. Knowing how media can drive a narrative through selective questions, Hawkins asked the former President to clarify his views, writing:  

Dear President Trump,     

Your story as a President who championed Life is an important part of your legacy and a reason for a new generation of young pro-life voters to engage in traditional politics, something that many of their generation are less inclined to do. In fact, Students for Life Action is currently setting up a $5M door knocking campaign to urge people to Vote Pro-Life First in 2024, as there is a clear divide between the two parties on abortion, the human rights issue of our day. But we have had to pause that as so many of our students and supporters are asking to understand your comments to NBC’s Meet the Press.    

It was tremendously discouraging for Pro-Life First Voters and the more than 1,000 volunteers preparing to work with us in the general election to see you disparage protections for preborn infants starting at the universal sign of life – a heartbeat. A political calculation to support limits late in pregnancy, such as 15 weeks (almost 4 months), does not negate the value of laws that acknowledge the clearly understood, audible proof of life. Usually, in an emergency room, we rush to save someone with a heartbeat, and that continues to be the desire of motivated pro-life voters. It’s hard to understand why you would discourage so loyal a following to make a play for the votes of those unlikely to share your vision for shrinking the size of government, working to reduce inflation, or protecting parents’ rights to manage their children’s education and lives.     

In fact, as our own You Gov/Demetree Institute for Pro-Life Advancement polling shows, heartbeat abortion limits and limits when a baby can feel pain, poll basically the same, but a limit at heartbeat clearly will save more lives than waiting until 15 weeks, as more than 9 in 10 abortions take place by 12 weeks.    

In your role as a political and cultural leader, Mr. President, you have a rare opportunity. Here are FIVE things you can do to help create a culture of life.     

  1. Publicly support services and support for young families, for mothers and their children – born and preborn with policies like paid family leave, accommodations on college campuses to allow pregnant and parenting students the freedom to finish their education that our own Standing With You helps inspire, and free care for women giving birth.   
  2. Talk about the science of Life – the unique and irreplaceable new human being with unlimited potential that each member of the human species is at the moment their conception. The Pro-Life Generation rejects prejudice against people based on sex, race, age, stage of development, parental income, perceptions of abilities, or the events conception. The value of a Life is not something to be voted on but to be understood, protected, and empowered.   
  3. Detail the abortion extremism of the Democratic Party, that supports abortion up to birth through the Women’s Health Protection Act, and even infanticide, in opposing medical care required in the Born Alive Abortion Survivors Act. 
  4. Debunk the false narrative that abortion empowers minority communities, which lose a disproportionate number of their families to abortion, as Planned Parenthood and others target their communities by the presence of abortion vendor operations and their political pushes. Don’t ignore the pattern of racism in Planned Parenthood’s past, present, and future, with their emphasis on ending minority lives by abortion.    
  5. Lead in working for pro-life laws as soon as possible, as early as possible. The economics alone of an increasingly aging America without sufficient support is reason enough to engage in family friendly policies that help parents invest in our nation’s future.     

We ask you to clarify your comments to NBC’s Meet the Press as soon as possible, to underscore your commitment to leading on LIFE, rather than settling for the kind of lackluster policies desired by the GOP consulting class. In particular, can you address your comment about Heartbeat Abortion Prevention Laws here: “I think what (Gov. DeSantis) did is a terrible thing and a terrible mistake. But we’ll come up with a number, but at the same time, Democrats won’t be able to go out at six months, seven months, eight months and allow an abortion.”     

Heartbeat Laws are far from terrible. They should be an absolute minimum for any Republican candidate committed to protecting many from death by direct abortion. 

The pro-life vote is up for grabs, and as our challenge letter to all the GOP candidates shows, a generation of new voters is looking for leadership as we must stop the Democrats’ extreme and dangerous abortion-in-all-nine-months and taxpayer-funded abortion agenda in 2024. President Trump, we look forward to receiving your SFLAction Candidate Survey as we need clarity on your vision even as we celebrate your pro-life record. We look forward to hearing from you.     

Sincerely,  

Kristan Hawkins 

President, Students for Life Action 

SFLAction will be rallying the Youth vote in this election. For more information, read: Students for Life Action Debuts 31 New State Captains, Plans to Utilize Power of Youth Vote Headed into Election Season 

To attend the nation’s largest pro-life training event in January, register here (only credentialed media to be admitted.) Learn more at: SFLA Announces National Pro-Life Summit Theme for 2024: Equal Rights for All: Leading the NEXT Pro-Life Era 

For interviews, email [email protected]    

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Students for Life Action (SFLAction), a 501c4, along with its 501c3 sister organization, Students for Life of America (SFLA), make up the nation’s largest, pro-life youth organization, managing a political and policy operation engaging Americans of all ages but with a special emphasis on the largest segment of voters — the Youth Vote. Together they provide political, legal, educational, and community support for women and children, born and preborn. Headquartered in Fredericksburg, VA, SFLA serves more than 1,400 groups on middle, high school, college, medical, and law school campuses in all 50 states. SFLA and SFLAction have more conversations with this generation targeted by the abortion lobby than any other pro-life operation in the world, each week reaching more than 4 million across social media platforms and averaging 1.3 million video views. SFLA has also launched multiple initiatives to lead and serve the future of the pro-life movement including the Campaign for Abortion Free Cities, Standing With You, and the Demetree Institute for Pro-Life Advancement . Over more than 17 years, President Kristan Hawkins has grown SFLAction/SFLA and the Pro-Life Generation into a nearly $20M organization, now preparing for an abortion-free America.  

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