COLUMBUS, Ohio — Heading into next week's Republican National Convention the Republican Party platform includes a change in the way the party is addressing abortion. The RNC's platform committee moved to adopt the document this week that does not include a national abortion ban.
Ohio Republican U.S. Senate Candidate Bernie Moreno supports the platform. He says abortion is now in the states' hands since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, and the focus should be on women and their babies.
The platform states "We proudly stand for families and life. We believe that the 14th Amendment to the Constitution of the United States guarantees that no person can be denied life or liberty without due process, and that the states are, therefore, free to pass laws protecting those rights."
It does not include a national abortion ban or give a specific week at which an abortion would be illegal.
The 2016 Republican platform mentioned abortion 35 times. The 2024 platform mentions it only once in opposing late-term abortions.
It also says the Republican Party will support mothers and policies that advance prenatal care, access to birth control and IVF fertility treatments.
At a news conference in Columbus Wednesday morning Moreno supported the platform.
"It's predominantly a state issue, and we're going to work on ways to make certain that moms have better access to health care, that women have better access to contraception,” Moreno said.
“There's not a Republican senator I know that's against any forms of the contraception that's reported in the media. And we're going to make certain that adoption services are more readily available."
Moreno said he still supports a ban on abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy with common sense restrictions after that time period.
The platform’s top priorities include immigration and border security, ending inflation, American energy production dominance, large tax cuts for workers, restoring peace in Europe and no cuts for Social Security and Medicare.
“We're going to secure the border,” Moreno said. “We're going to have dominant American energy here made in the United States. That gives us national security. We're going to make certain that we lower prices by cutting government spending and we're going to have American strength and project that strength so we have peace and no more endless wars.”
The platform is expected to be officially approved the first day of the Republican National Convention on July 15.