For the first time ever, Ivanka Trump has explicitly declared herself pro-life, a complete reversal of her Democrat, pro-Planned Parenthood past.
Speaking with RealClearPolitics, Ivanka said that parenthood changed her in profound ways. Though she still respects different viewpoints, she proudly accepted the pro-life label.
“One area where Ivanka has undeniably changed: abortion, an issue that helped deliver the evangelical vote for the president in the last election,” prefaced RCP. “Social conservatives saw the New York feminist as a question mark. Did she share her father’s view? She had danced around the issue, declining to take a public position, and a secret meeting with then-Planned Parenthood President Cecile Richards in 2017 only heightened fears that Ivanka may have swayed the president away from a campaign promise.”
Pro-life conservatives can now remove that question mark surrounding Ivanka Trump, and consider her an ally.
“I respect all sides of a very personal and sensitive discussion,” Ivanka said. “But I am also a mother of three children, and parenthood affected me in a profound way in terms of how I think about these things.”
“I am pro-life, and unapologetically so,” she added.
According to RealClearPolitics, a White House aide said that Ivanka Trump’s comments were a personal conviction and a response to the Democratic Party’s leftward shift on the issue, such as mandating taxpayer-funded abortions.
“A huge driving part of that [stance] is where the Democratic Party has gone,” said the aide.
Ivanka Trump publicly declaring herself pro-life in opposition to abortion enraged her critics beyond the usual talking points. Robert Hart of Forbes, for instance, said the newfound position “undermines her efforts to aid women’s development … mere days before multitudes of anti-abortion voters are expected to turn out in support of her father, president Donald Trump, as he faces off in an election against Democrat Joe Biden.”
Writing at Slate, Christina Cauterucci argued that Ivanka Trump was coming out against abortion on the eve of the election to rile up Trump’s base, jettisoning her moderate image.
“Ivanka has realized that no one’s buying her moderating-force act. So like the rest of the Trump campaign, Ivanka is pivoting to riling up the base rather than attempting to win over those in the middle,” wrote Cauterucci. “Aware that women have fled from his side with haste, the president is making his rallies more sexist than ever in an attempt to energize his sexist supporters. Likewise, Ivanka is adjusting her image to better align with Trump fans who support him unconditionally.”
“They’re the only people left to please: Donald Trump has already revealed himself to be the cruel, wannabe-authoritarian president he promised he’d be,” she continued. “Four years in, there are no Americans whose concerns about a Donald Trump presidency could be assuaged by a seemingly intelligent daughter-advisor with a women’s empowerment shtick. She seems to have realized that she might as well give up that act and try out a new one.”