WASHINGTON February 5, 2019 (LifeSiteNews) – President Donald Trump is expected to put a pro-life message into his State of the Union address this Tuesday.
The New York Times and Politico reported that the president would use the event to likely reaffirm his pro-life commitment to his base.
Citing a White House source, the New York Times quoted an official who said that Trump wants not only to promote national unity but to appeal to pro-life Americans by talking about the “fundamental importance and respect for human life.”
In addition to devoting part of the speech to ending illegal immigration, according to Politico, Trump “wants to reaffirm his commitment to pro-life things” and that he does not want this third appearance before a joint session of Congress to be “all fire and brimstone.” Trump discussed the issue in a telephone call with Faith & Freedom Coalition President Ralph Reed, the report states.
Trump’s State of the Union address comes on the heels of controversies swirling in New York and Virginia over the former passing an extreme abortion law and the latter having a governor who defended on public radio infanticide after a failed abortion.
In a preview of the tack he may take during the address, Trump tweeted last week: “Democrats are becoming the Party of late term abortion, high taxes, Open Borders and Crime!”
Democrats are becoming the Party of late term abortion, high taxes, Open Borders and Crime!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 31, 2019
In an interview with the Daily Caller news site last week, Trump recalled one of the talking points from his presidential campaign to condemn late-term abortion bills.
“Do you remember when I said [during a 2016 presidential debate] Hillary Clinton was willing to rip the baby out of the womb? That's what it is, that's what they're doing, it's terrible,” he said. “This is going to lift up the whole pro-life movement like maybe it's never been lifted up before,” Trump said after a fierce debate unfolded in Virginia after Democrats introduced legislation to virtually eliminate restrictions on abortion, while New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) signed a bill that virtually eliminates any restrictions on abortion.
The Virginia bill would lower the current legal bar, which allows late-term abortion when the mother’s health would be “substantially and irredeemably” harmed. Virginia state Delegate Kathy Tran (D) acknowledged in a committee hearing last week that the bill would allow even a woman who is dilating to request an abortion.
In New York, state legislators stood up and cheered earlier in January after approving a bill that decriminalized abortion even at the moment of birth. It also allows non-physicians to commit abortions. Gov. Cuomo signed the bill and directed that pink lights should shine overnight at the World Trade Center and other prominent structures to celebrate the pro-abortion victory.