The New Party Politics of Abortion

 By Daniel K. Williams - Posted at Christianity Today:

Published March 23, 2026

Some Republicans remain consistently pro-life. But under Trump’s lead, the GOP has become an anti-Roe yet pro-choice coalition.

This month, Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) introduced a bill to ban the abortion drug mifepristone and revoke the FDA’s approval of it.

In the recent past, few would have been surprised that a socially conservative Republican member of Congress would introduce a bill to restrict abortion pills. Ever since the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved this use of mifepristone in 2000, during the Clinton administration, many pro-life Republicans have wanted to reverse it—especially since mifepristone is now used in more than 60 percent of all abortions in the United States.

But this time, Hawley’s target is not a Democratic administration FDA, but a Republican one. Under President Donald Trump, the FDA has expanded access to abortion pills by approving a second form of mifepristone last October.

During his 2024 presidential campaign, Trump assured voters that he did not support a national abortion ban, and he removed a promise of a human life amendment from the Republican Party platform. Yet at the same time, he frequently took credit for the Supreme Court’s reversal of Roe v. Wade.

While some saw Trump’s mixed signals on abortion as political posturing, the reality may have been more straightforward: Trump and many of his allies have repositioned the Republican Party as a party that is mostly pro-choice—but anti-Roe.

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