Sen. Josh Hawley Calls on Trump to ‘Set Moral Tone’ of Administration by Repealing Biden’s Pro-Abortion Policies

Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO) called on President-elect Donald Trump to “set the moral tone of his second term” by repealing the Biden administration’s pro-abortion legacy. 

In an op-ed published to WORLD on Monday, the senator reflected on the various ways the Biden administration has worked to allow more babies to die in abortions, not just in the United States, but around the world. In response, Hawley proposed Trump quickly repeal many of the pro-abortion rules promulgated by left-wing, unelected bureaucrats and reinstate several of the pro-life measures of his first term. 

“Inauguration Day is at hand. A new political era awaits. And on Day One, President Donald Trump can set the moral tone for his second term with the stroke of a pen,” Hawley wrote. “He can restore the full suite of pro-life policies that his own Department of Health and Human Services developed during his first term. No priority should be—could be—higher than protecting America’s unborn children.”

Hawley noted that while Trump is often recognized for his role in installing the Supreme Court justices who ultimately overturned Roe v. Wade, the president-elect also “advanced a series of life-protecting rules and regulations through federal agencies that saved untold lives.”

“Many Americans don’t realize just how consequential agency actions truly are. These rules set the direction of policy for the whole of the government—and federal agencies influence policy in the states, too, through extensive grant programs and other means,” he pointed out. “Because Congress regularly delegates massive authority to federal agencies, the rules and regulations they promulgate carry the force of law. For those reasons, directing the federal bureaucracy is one of the president’s greatest powers.” 

Hawley contended that, unlike President Joe Biden, Trump should “use that power to protect life,” including reinstating his policy barring Title X funding from going to abortion providers, allowing pregnancy resource centers to have access to federal funding, and implementing his Mexico City Policy, which blocked federal funding to international aid groups that promote abortions. 

“Predictably, these achievements came under immediate attack once Joe Biden arrived in the Oval Office. Pro-abortion activists in the Biden administration spent years trying to dismantle President Trump’s work at HHS,” Hawley wrote. “In the hands of President Biden, HHS tried to force federal grant recipients to make referrals for abortions, cut off funding for pregnancy resource centers, and use American tax dollars to help pay for abortions overseas.”

Besides pushing abortions through rulemaking, “the Biden administration’s abortion extremism went into overdrive” when the FBI and DOJ raided the homes of pro-life advocates and jailed peaceful protesters, the lawmaker continued.

The Biden administration also enabled more women to carry out medication abortions in their homes by allowing the FDA to remove its in-person requirement in 2021, he wrote. Medication abortions notably accounted for 63 percent of all abortions in the United States in 2023, up from 53 percent in 2020, according to a report from the pro-abortion Guttmacher Institute.

“By making those drugs available through the mail regardless of state law, the Biden administration imposed its abortion-on-demand agenda on every voter and state, putting women’s health at risk to do it,” he wrote. “Before Biden, the Food and Drug Administration had long required abortion drugs to be dispensed only in person and under medical supervision. The Biden administration gutted those rules.”

“Thankfully, it’s a new day. And President Trump has the power to start protecting life again—immediately. He should use that power boldly to protect those who most need it: the innocent unborn,” he concluded. 

Katherine Hamilton is a political reporter for Breitbart News. You can follow her on X @thekat_hamilton.