Yesterday, in another nod to anti-abortion-rights activists, President Trump issued a proclamation declaring the 45th anniversary of the Roe v. Wade decision to be “National Sanctity of Human Life Day.” It seems safe to say that the president did not even read the proclamation, much less have any hand in writing it, as it offers various lofty thoughts about equality and dignity that are at odds with the president’s policy priorities of preventing immigration from “shithole countries,” turning away refugees and dismantling the health care system.
Trump has given the anti-choice movement his support for their agenda of criminalizing abortion. In return, the movement has given up any credibility it might have had in portraying itself as concerned for human rights and dignity. But all that is brushed under the rug in yesterday’s proclamation, which begins with a declaration of the “love and protection” that “each person, born and unborn, deserves regardless of disability, gender, appearance, or ethnicity” and an insistence that “no class of people should ever be discarded as ‘non-human’”:
Today, we focus our attention on the love and protection each person, born and unborn, deserves regardless of disability, gender, appearance, or ethnicity. Much of the greatest suffering in our Nation’s history — and, indeed, our planet’s history — has been the result of disgracefully misguided attempts to dehumanize whole classes of people based on these immutable characteristics. We cannot let this shameful history repeat itself in new forms, and we must be particularly vigilant to safeguard the most vulnerable lives among us. This is why we observe National Sanctity of Human Life Day: to affirm the truth that all life is sacred, that every person has inherent dignity and worth, and that no class of people should ever be discarded as “non-human.”
The proclamation goes on to express “concern for single moms; the elderly, the infirm, and the disabled; and orphan and foster children”—on the day on which Trump’s Republican allies in Congress finally managed to fund the Children’s Health Insurance Program after letting its funding lapse for months:
Reverence for every human life, one of the values for which our Founding Fathers fought, defines the character of our Nation. Today, it moves us to promote the health of pregnant mothers and their unborn children. It animates our concern for single moms; the elderly, the infirm, and the disabled; and orphan and foster children.
Trump’s proclamation ends with this thought: “I call on all Americans to reflect on the value of our lives; to respond to others in keeping with their inherent dignity; to act compassionately to those with disabilities, infirmities, or frailties; to look beyond external factors that might separate us; and to embrace the common humanity that unites us.”
Just days before, Trump’s campaign committee had released an ad implying that undocumented immigrants are murderers in an effort to prevent a deal providing protection against deportation for immigrants brought to the United States as children.
But this doesn’t seem to bother Trump’s “pro-life” allies. Alliance Defending Freedom attorney Kevin Theriot gave LifeSiteNews a rave review of Trump’s proclamation. Other anti-choice groups are still gushing over the president’s speech to Friday’s March for Life. March for Life’s Jeanne Mancini told Politico that she was thrilled with how “faithful” Trump has been to her cause:
“He has been great on pro-life public policy,” March for Life’s president, Jeanne Mancini, told POLITICO. “He doesn’t lack courage. He’s been leaning into this issue in a way that’s refreshing.”
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“There was some anxiety about how would it all pan out,” Mancini said about Trump’s behavior leading up to Election Day. “But it’s been a delight, in a sense, seeing how faithful he’s been.”
