This weekend, the annual Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) will take place at National Harbor, Md. CPAC is typically the largest conservative conference in the country and thousands of conservative activists will be in attendance. This weekend’s agenda boasts an impressive lineup of conservative elected officials, activists, and policy-makers. Furthermore, the panels will cover a wide range of topics, including immigration, transgenderism, and election fraud. However, one issue is conspicuously absent from this weekend’s agenda — abortion.
What makes this especially disappointing is that sanctity-of-life issues were exceptionally salient this past year. In the past twelve months, Roe v. Wade was overturned, and 13 states are currently protecting preborn children. Research from Texas and other states shows that these pro-life laws have already saved thousands of lives. A U.S. district court in Texas is about to issue a ruling that might take dangerous chemical-abortion drugs off the market. Finally, we have also seen a politicized DOJ that has aggressively prosecuted pro-life activists but largely ignored numerous attacks on pro-life pregnancy-help centers.
Even worse, this is the second consecutive CPAC with no panel dedicated to sanctity-of-life issues. In March 2022, many pro-lifers thought there was a very good chance that the U.S. Supreme Court was about to overturn Roe v. Wade. However, no panel at the 2022 CPAC was dedicated to sanctity-of-life issues. A Twitter thread by pro-life activist Alison Centofante on this topic went viral. During a in interview, CPAC chairman Matt Schlapp dismissed the concerns of Centofante and other pro-lifers, saying, “Everything is prolife that we talk about.” Schlapp later called into a gathering of pro-life leaders to mend fences. However, there was no public commitment to organizing a pro-life panel at a subsequent CPAC.
In the months after the Supreme Court’s Dobbs decision, pro-life groups and pro-life elected officials have proposed a number of creative policies to build a culture of life. The state of Texas appropriated over $100 million to its Alternatives to Abortion program. Mississippi governor Tate Reaves has proposed expanding Medicaid coverage to mothers up to twelve months postpartum. Earlier this year, Americans United for Life and Democrats for Life collaborated on a proposal to make births free. Unfortunately, CPAC attendees looking for robust discussions about how best to protect preborn children in a post-Roe era will have to look elsewhere.