Scottsdale Rep. Kolodin calls for an end to ‘scourge of abortion’ in GOP Party platform dissent

The Republican Party adopted a new platform this month that ostensibly removed a 40-year crusade for a national abortion ban, and Arizonans on the platform committee are calling afoul.

Arizona Rep. Alexander Kolodin and former legislative candidate Susan Ellsworth were two of 18 members of the Republican National Convention’s Platform Committee that signed a dissenting “minority report” over the watered-down abortion stance.

“The promise of the Republican Party to preserve the right to life of every human being from conception to natural death,” the report reads. “We do fondly hope and fervently pray that the scourge of abortion will speedily pass away.”

Whitewashing attacks on abortion

The 2024 GOP Platform strips abortion from the party’s agenda almost entirely. It states opposition to abortions in the third trimester—a nearly non-existent practice only recommended by doctors under life-threatening circumstances—and support for a state-by-state approach to abortion laws. Previous iterations of the party’s platform detailed opposition to abortions extensively, denying it as a form of healthcare, and laying the groundwork for a national ban on the procedure in its entirety.

The decision to cut out abortion was a direct mandate from the Republican candidate for US President, Donald Trump. Trump’s campaign is seeking to steer clear of strict abortion language, even though he’s taking credit for setting up the 2022 reversal of Roe v. Wade by the US Supreme Court. Trump appointed three of the six justices who voted in the majority to overturn the 1973 precedent that established a national right to have an abortion.

Kolodin told the Arizona Mirror that while he understands Trump’s political desire to avoid divisive language around abortion, he disagrees with the decision. The Scottsdale representative has never been one to shy away from harsh abortion laws, regardless of repercussions. In his opposition to a repeal of Arizona’s pre-statehood abortion ban, Kolodin attacked his Republican colleagues who supported the repeal over fear of losing their reelection in November.

​​“We’re willing to kill infants to win an election. Put in that context, it’s a little harder to stomach,” Kolodin said. “Politics is important, but it’s not worth our souls.”

Kolodin’s crusade against abortion

In addition to fighting against a repeal of the state’s abortion ban, Kolodin has spent a great deal of his time at the state capitol devising new ways to restrict abortion access. He supported a number of fetal personhood bills, sponsored by fellow Republican Rep. Matt Gress, that would have defined conception as the point of life, which would make abortion at any stage of pregnancy a form of murder.

Kolodin also introduced a proposal that would allow private citizens to enforce the state’s 15-week abortion ban. Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes has prohibited any prosecution under the ban; Kolodin’s motion would circumvent this prohibition by allowing anyone to sue healthcare providers that offer abortion services they believe are in violation of the law.

Other initiatives supported by Kolodin would require public disclosure of any company that donates to abortion-adjacent organizations, a “born alive” bill that stigmatizes abortion and could put healthcare providers at legal risk, and an effort for the state legislature to create a misleading ballot initiative as a way to confuse voters and undercut the Arizona Abortion Access Act, a citizen’s initiative to restore abortion access in Arizona.

Is abortion really in Republican’s rearview mirror?

While Trump has removed explicit abortion restrictions from the official party platform, unofficially, Republicans are more aligned with Kolodin than the convicted felon and presidential candidate. Former Vice President Mike Pence called the omission of an abortion ban a “profound disappointment,” and several elected Republicans told Axios that they preferred the platform “the way it was previously.”

The schism—opposition to the platform but fealty to Trump—can best be illustrated with Ellsworth, Kolodin’s Arizona companion who signed the dissenting report. Throughout the Republican National Convention, she’s sported a new fashion accessory: a bandage over her ear, modeled after the bandage donned by Trump after a failed assassination attempt left him with an injury on his left ear.

Arizona delegate Susan Ellsworth wears a ‘bandage’ on her ear on the third day of the Republican National Convention at the Fiserv Forum on July 17, 2024 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Delegates, politicians, and the Republican faithful are in Milwaukee for the annual convention, concluding with former President Donald Trump accepting his party’s presidential nomination. The RNC takes place from July 15-18. Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images