President Donald Trump received praise from one of his top staffers this week for his commitment to religious liberty and pro-life policies.
Acting White House Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney said Trump personally added pro-life language to his State of the Union address in February amid national outrage about late-term abortion legislation in Virginia and New York, according to the Washington Free Beacon.
Mulvaney shared the story with the National Catholic Prayer Breakfast on Tuesday in Washington, D.C.
He said Trump added pro-life points to his speech just minutes before his Feb. 5 address to the nation.
“The president was looking at it the very last time before he went out to give the speech, and he made some notes—he didn’t tell us what he was doing when he made the notes,” Mulvaney said, according to the report. “If you remember the speech, you heard what the president was writing. The president was writing more about how important it was to protect life and how terrible it was to see what Virginia was doing.”
In his clear and forceful message, Trump slammed the governors of New York and Virginia for promoting abortion up to birth and infanticide. He also called for Congress to pass a ban on late-term abortions on babies who are capable of feeling pain.
Here are the president’s remarks:
There could be no greater contrast to the beautiful image of a mother holding her infant child than the chilling displays our nation saw in recent days.
Lawmakers in New York cheered with delight upon the passage of legislation that would allow a baby to be ripped from the mother’s womb moments before birth. These are living, feeling, beautiful babies who will never get the chance to share their love and dreams with the world.
And then, we had the case of the governor of Virginia where he stated he would execute a baby after birth. To defend the dignity of every person, I am asking Congress to pass legislation to prohibit the late-term abortion of children who can feel pain in the mother’s womb.
Let us work together to build a culture that cherishes innocent life.
And let us reaffirm a fundamental truth — all children — born and unborn— are made in the holy image of God.
Click here to sign up for pro-life news alerts from LifeNews.com
Trump and his administration have made a number of changes to protect unborn babies, mothers and those who morally object to abortions. Earlier this week, his administration intervened to stop the United Nations from supporting abortion in a resolution to protect victims of rape. In 2018, the State Department removed references to the so-called “right” to abort an unborn baby from a global human rights report as well.
In one of his first acts as president, Trump reinstated and expanded the Mexico City Policy, which prohibits taxpayer funding to groups that promote or provide abortions overseas. The change defunded Planned Parenthood’s international arm of about $100 million in U.S. tax dollars.
This spring, the administration also finalized a new Title X rule that requires health care entities to completely separate abortion from their taxpayer-funded services. Planned Parenthood, which already has said it will not comply, could lose about $60 million annually through the policy change.
It also has been working to expand conscience protections for medical workers who believe it is wrong to kill an unborn baby.
