Tony Perkins says the Republican Party has "lost its voice" on abortion and credits Hawley with filling the vacuum
Tony PerkinsPresident of the Family Research Council, speaking at the Declaration for Life unveiling
Speaking at the unveiling of the Declaration for Life, Family Research Council president Tony Perkins said the Republican Party had lost its voice on abortion after removing a national abortion ban from its 2024 platform, and praised Hawley for stepping into that vacuum. He said his organisation would circulate the declaration as a standard for candidates to commit to.
“Unfortunately the Republican Party has lost its voice on the life issue and in that vacuum there are leaders that are stepping forward like Sen. Hawley calling upon the church, communities and the country to step up on behalf of the unborn.”
Reporting
Other statements by Tony Perkins in this case
- Tony Perkins supports Hawley's mifepristone banEarlier: Defended or excused
Where this statement fits
Should Congress ban the abortion pill, mifepristone, as Josh Hawley has proposed?
On March 11, 2026, Senator Josh Hawley introduced the Safeguarding Women from Chemical Abortion Act, which would withdraw the Food and Drug Administration's approval of mifepristone for pregnancy termination, make distributing and labeling the drug for that purpose violations of the Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act, and let women who say chemical abortion harmed them sue its manufacturers. Mifepristone has been approved in the United States since 2000 and is used in a large majority of American abortions. Hawley argues a national ban is the only remedy because the drug can be mailed into states whose own laws restrict abortion. The bill drew seven Republican cosponsors but has not moved out of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee. On September 16, 2026, Hawley unveiled a four-page "Declaration for Life" and began asking officeholders and candidates to sign it as a commitment to ban the drug. The dispute is over whether Congress should enact that ban.
Source and context
Reporting
About this source
Contemporaneous reporting on the September 16 event, naming Tony Perkins of the Family Research Council and the Christian musician Sean Feucht as joining Hawley at the unveiling, and recording Hawley's request that candidates in both parties sign the pledge. The same quotations appear in the syndicated version carried by Yahoo News.
Before the quotation
Perkins noted that the Republican Party removed its call for a national abortion ban from the official party platform in the summer of 2024.
After the quotation
Perkins said pro-life groups would circulate the declaration "as a standard" because the party platform had dropped its life provisions.
How this statement is classified
The label describes this statement's response within the context above.
Why this label?
Perkins endorses both the proposition and the campaign to bind candidates to it, and commits his organisation to enforcing it. The closest competing label is condemns, because the sentence is framed as criticism. That loses because its target is the Republican Party's retreat from the issue, not Hawley's proposal, which he praises; classifying on the emotional tone of the criticism rather than its stated target would reverse the label.
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- Josh Hawley
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Hawley unveils the "Declaration for Life" and asks candidates to commit to banning the abortion drug
“This Declaration for Life, written by pastors, is calling on everyday Christians across America to stand for life and confront the scourge of chemical abortion.”Read statement
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- Tony Perkins says the Republican Party has "lost its voice" on abortion and credits Hawley with filling the vacuum
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The Dispute Index. "Tony Perkins says the Republican Party has "lost its voice" on abortion and credits Hawley with filling the vacuum". First published: 2026-09-18. Last updated: 2026-09-22. https://disputeindex.com/events/1032-speaking-at-the-unveiling-of-the-declaration-for