The Opinions - David French on the Pro-Life Case for Kamala Harris

Episode Date: August 19, 2024

David French, an Opinion columnist, is an evangelical, pro-life conservative. For the first time in his life, he plans to vote for a Democratic presidential candidate: Kamala Harris.He says he will vote against Donald Trump “precisely because I’m conservative.” In this audio essay, David explains how he arrived at his decision and argues for other conservatives to join him. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

This is The Opinions, a show that brings you a mix of voices from New York Times opinion. You've heard the news. Here's what to make of it. My name is David French, and I'm an opinion columnist at the New York Times. I've been a conservative since the moment I started being interested in politics. I was a Cold War Reagan conservative. I came up age in the 1980s, and that was my political identity. And for a long time, it's also was my professional identity. I was a free speech lawyer for many years. I was a pro-life litigator for many years.

I was a Romney delegate to the 2012 Republican National Convention. So I was deeply embedded both in the conservative legal movement and in the Republican Party itself before the rise of Donald Trump. But I am, for the first, time in my adult life going to vote for a Democrat for president in 2024. I'm going to vote for Kamala Harris. Some people say I can't vote for Kamala Harris because I'm pro-life and a Christian. But in fact, I believe Donald Trump is harming the pro-life movement in a profound way. I'm often asked if I'm still conservative. The answer is I'm voting against Trump. precisely because I'm conservative. That's why I'm doing it. I was a Reagan Republican because of the

commitment of the parties to certain conservative principles. The current Republican Party is not the Reagan Republican Party and its policies. And it is certainly absolutely not the Reagan Republican Party when it comes to its commitment or understanding of the importance of character. Now, with the rise of the MAGA Republican Party, the party has transformed itself. And so therefore, if I'm a Republican because of a commitment to character and a specific kind of conservatism, and it's no longer committed to those things, then it has no claims on my loyalty at all. I had never voted for Donald Trump.

I like to say I have voted for Mitt Romney for president more than any other person alive, including probably Mitt Romney. So I've written in Mitt Romney, for example, but I had not affirmatively cast a vote for the Democratic candidate. And I will tell you when this really began to change. It wasn't just January 6th, although January 6th elevated the stakes dramatically. It was the one-two punch of January 6th and seeing how far Trump himself and MAGA had strayed from its commitment to the American rule of law. It was also then that Russian attack on Ukraine, and the response of the Biden-Harris administration to that contrasted with the MAGA response. What I've seen is this administration was on the right side of those issues, and Kamala Harris has doubled down on those commitments to be on the right side of those issues.

I'm an evangelical Christian, and I've been pro-life for reasons. related both to my faith and to my understanding of science and justice. And it was one of the primary reasons why I continued my affiliation with the Republican Party because of the Republican Party's consistent commitment to a pro-life position. But with the rise of Donald Trump, I was very, very concerned about his effect. Abortions went up under his presidency. And since the Dobbs decision, the pro-life movement has been a state of political collapse. It's not even been able to win a referendum in a red state. Trump was the very first president since Carter to end his presidency with a higher abortion rate and ratio and tens of thousands of more abortions. So you're beginning

to have a world with more abortions, decreased support for the pro-life movement, and then Donald Trump himself and the MAGA movement fundamentally changes the Republican Party platform to the point where it was no longer recognizably pro-life. And it was the most watered down platform on abortion in 40 years. And so it strikes me as bizarre if people make the argument that as an evangelical Christian, you have to support the man who watered down the pro-life platform in the Republican party, the man who oversaw the first increase in abortions in decades, the man who has been found liable for sexually abusing a woman, and a man who's bragged, bragged about his sexual exploits, that that's the person that Christians have to support or they're not being faithful,

strikes me as not just destructive, but also laughably ridiculous. It's a mistake to think of voting for somebody as endorsing all aspects of their coming presidency. No, it's an endorsement of the things I like, and it's not an endorsement of the things that I don't like. And it's definitely a repudiation of the other side. Here's the way I would put it. I think there are ample opportunities for the pro-life movement to work with a Harris administration to enact policies that will make abortion, less appealing as an alternative for women. So, for example, I have long supported the Biden administration's efforts to create an expanded

child tax credit. I do think that there are policies that are aimed at improving the lives of young mothers that pro-life people can work with the Harris administration on. Also, I'm not naive. There are things that I would oppose. So, for example, if she is wanting to repeal the Hyde Amendment, which is prohibiting direct federal funding of abortion, I would oppose that. If she was wanting to enact a federal law codifying row, I would oppose that. But I would also note that pro-life folks can block some of those policies with their votes down ballot.

The president is not, she would not be queen of America. She would need the votes in the House and the Senate to enact national change. So this idea that everything depends on the vote for the president is just completely wrong. And right now I think there's an appetite for a return to a more normal American politics and a more calm America. And I think you see that through her candidacy, not through the candidacy of Donald Trump. This show is produced by Derek Arthur, Sophia Alvarez-Boid, Vichaka, Phoebe Lett, Christina Samuoski, and Jillian Weinberger.

It's edited by Kari Pitkin, Alison Bruzek, and Annie Rose Strasser. Engineering, mixing, and original music by Isaac Jones, Sonia Herrero,

Pat McCusker, Carol Saburo, and Afim Shapiro. Additional music by Amin Sahota. The fact check team is Kate Sinclair, Mary Marge Locker,

and Michelle Harris. Audience Strategy by Shannon Busta and Christina Samuoski. The executive producer of Times Opinion Audio is Annie Rose Dresser. Thank you.