CLEVELAND, OH — Pro-life leaders and high-ranking officials gathered for Donald Trump and Mike Pence Wednesday at the Celebrating Life & Values event hosted by the political affiliates of the Family Research Council (FRC) and Susan B. Anthony List.
A constellation of pro-life Christian stars gathered to plant the flag of support for the unborn. Sen. James Lankford (R-OK), Rep. Virginia Foxx (R-NC), and the Freedom Caucus’s Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH) were just three of the elected officials mingling with pro-life supporters a couple blocks from the Quicken Arena, Ground Zero of the 2016 Republican National Convention. They were joined by Christian celebrities like the Benham Brothers, David and Jason Benham.
Gov. Sam Brownback (R-KS) emphasized what seemed to be the bottom line for why pro-life Americans should do everything possible to elect Donald Trump and Mike Pence, saying, “The Supreme Court is worth it. It’s worth everything.”
“Pro-lifers can be confident in Gov. Mike Pence,” Sen. Deb Fischer (R-NE) began, zeroing in on Trump’s running mate, emphasizing Pence’s 100 percent pro-life record, built over almost two decades in public office. She lauded “Gov. Pence’s strong and proven record on life issues.”
Fischer also spoke to the sorts of measures pro-life forces are currently passing in the states — what she called, “common sense pro-life measures” that show “compassion for women.”
Brown’s and Fischer’s comments highlighted the Supreme Court stakes of the election, with the current membership of the Court recently striking down Texas’s HB2 in Whole Woman’s Health v. Hellerstedt, which required abortion clinics merely to meet the sanitation and equipment standards of an urgent-care facility and for abortion doctors to have privileges to practice at a local hospital.
Drawing a contrast with the opposition, Fischer also denounced Hillary Clinton and the Democrats as “defenders of a truly barbaric practice” of partial-birth abortion. She also castigated them as the anti-science party, noting that they “reject science on when life begins, and when a baby can feel pain.”
FRC President Tony Perkins offered positive words about Trump, saying of the New York businessman, “He’s willing to listen. And when you listen, you can learn.”
“And he’s learning,” Perkins concluded, assuring the audience that the Republican nominee was building a constructive relationship with pro-lifers and increasingly understanding the issues, and he urged his listeners to turn out for the Trump-Pence ticket in November.
Ken Klukowski is the senior legal editor for Breitbart News. Follow him on Twitter @kenklukowski.