Pence laments pro-life principles 'fell short' at RNC, thanks delegates for 'noble' fight

FIRST ON FOX – Former Vice President Mike Pence sent letters to pro-life Republican National Convention delegates who worked to amplify pro-life issues on the GOP's 2024 platform that ultimately softened its language on abortion.

"As you battled to restore the pro-life platform, you were an inspiration to millions of pro-life Americans, who remain profoundly disappointed by the Republican Party’s decision to water down the previously strong pro-life platform for political expediency," Pence wrote in the Tuesday letters. 

"While we ultimately fell short in our noble effort to restore the historic pro-life principles included in the 2016 and 2020 platforms, we did so with moral clarity and compassion about advancing the cause of life," he continued in a letter exclusively obtained by Fox News Digital. 

The GOP platform this election cycle notably only mentions abortion once, instead focusing on the preservation of life and returning power to the states when developing laws surrounding abortion. In 2016, when Pence ran as Trump's running mate, the GOP platform used the word "abortion" 35 times. 

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Former Vice President Mike Pence visits "America Reports" at FOX News' Washington, D.C., bureau on Oct. 19, 2022. (Shannon Finney/Getty Images)

The softening of language surrounding abortion this year sparked some condemnation from those in the pro-life movement, including Pence. 

"Now is not the time to surrender any ground in the fight for the right to life. The 2024 platform removed historic pro-life principles that have long been the foundation of the platform. I urge delegates attending next week's Republican Convention to restore language to our party's platform recognizing the sanctity of human life and affirming that the unborn child has a fundamental right to life which cannot be infringed," Pence said earlier this month when the draft of the GOP platform first surfaced. 

Advancing American Freedom, a nonprofit founded by Pence that advocates for conservative values and policy proposals, had urged conservatives and delegates earlier this year to "remain vigilant in defense of a strong conservative platform," including on abortion. 

Fox News Digital spoke with Tennessee Sen. Marsha Blackburn, who chaired the Republican National Committee’s Platform Committee, earlier this month when the platform's draft was first released. Blackburn said when crafting the platform, committee members had to take into account the Supreme Court's 2022 Dobbs decision, which overturned Roe v. Wade, effectively ended the recognition of a constitutional right to abortion, and ruled that individual states have the power to allow, limit or ban abortion procedures. 

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"And so, having as we do with all other issues, whether it's defending religious liberty, or protecting free speech, or working to end the gender insanity – this left-wing gender insanity – and protecting our rights and freedoms. What the platform says is we proudly stand for families and for life."

Former President Trump arrives at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, on July 17, 2024. (David Paul Morris/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

Trump has also repeatedly hammered that he believes abortion laws and issues should be left up to the states. The DNC has, meanwhile, attacked Trump and Republicans as working to ban abortion federally if the 45th president is re-elected. 

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"Donald Trump said himself there’s a ‘vital role for the federal government’ in banning abortion, and then proudly chose JD Vance as his running mate – a man who has repeatedly supported national abortion bans and even admitted he wants abortion to be ‘illegal nationally.’ If given the chance, Trump and Vance will enact their dangerous Project 2025 agenda to ban abortion nationwide with or without Congress, threaten access to IVF and contraception, and strip away our fundamental rights," DNC spokesperson Aida Ross said in a statement Monday. 

Former Vice President Mike Pence delivers a speech to the National Council of Resistance of Iran's (NCRI) Free Iran World Summit in Paris on July 1, 2023. (NCRI )

Pence continued in his letter to pro-life delegates that he is "proud to play an important role in the most pro-life administration in American history," touting that "we sent Roe v. Wade to the ash heap of history and advanced the cause of life wherever and however we could."

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"Today, we see an America led by the most extreme pro-abortion administration in American history. Yet Republicans seemingly insist that we retreat rather than courageously advance the cause of life," he continued. 

Republican National Committee Co-Chair Lara Trump speaks on Day 2 of the GOP convention at the Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee, July 16, 2024. (Reuters/Brian Snyder)

The GOP platform was officially adopted by the party last week during the RNC in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and pledges to enact policies that would seal the border and end the "migrant invasion," end inflation, prevent "World War Three" and unite the U.S. "by bringing it to new and record levels of success." 

"The Republican Party must return to being the party of life. We must not rest or relent until the sanctity of life is restored to the center of American law in every state in our land. With pro-life voices like yours, I have no doubt that one day life will win again. Generations born and unborn deserve nothing less," Pence continued in his letter to pro-life delegates. 

"The fight for life is not over. And we will win in this great campaign. So help us God."