(LifeSiteNews) –– The conservative women’s group Concerned Women for America (CWA) announced Wednesday that former President and 2024 presidential candidate Donald Trump has signed its pledge to affirm the “unique dignity of women to be recognized in U.S. law and policy” if elected, amid ongoing debate over which candidate is best situated to successfully deliver on such promises next year.
“As President of the United States, I promise to uphold the truth that women are exclusively female,” the pledge reads. “Only women can be pregnant and bear children. Only women can be mothers.
“Under my Administration, the status and dignity of women and girls will not be compromised in law or policy. That sex is binary is scientific reality, and all federal agencies will be directed to uphold this fact in every policy and program at home and abroad,” it continues. “A persons’ [sic] claim of ‘gender identity’ does not overrule their sex.
“My Administration will focus on affirming sex-based distinctions that protect women in every area, such as shelters, prisons, housing, healthcare, defense, education, and sports,” the pledge concludes. “I will protect the dignity of women and motherhood in all circumstances.”
CWA said it was “very grateful,” for Trump’s signature, adding that “[r]ecent polling shows that the vast majority of American women from all political demographics are very eager for their future president to recognize the critical importance of this issue and be willing to fight on our behalf.”
As president, Trump prioritized religious liberty and was generally aligned with social conservatives against the gender-fluidity movement, from banning gender-confused soldiers from the military to protecting women from having to share restrooms or homeless shelters with men claiming to be transgendered. His White House also opposed the so-called “Equality Act,” and maintained a biological definition of sex in its implementation of federal laws and regulations.
While running for reelection, Trump has pledged to “protect children from left-wing gender insanity” including both executive action and advocacy of federal legislation to resist and roll back federal funding, approval, and promotion of gender “transition” practices, and to oppose forcing women to compete with men in sex-specific school athletic programs.
However, questions remain as to the solidity of Trump’s commitment to the issue, as well as his prospects for winning the election necessary to act on the pledge. His top rival for the Republican presidential nomination, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, is currently hitting Trump as a “pioneer in injecting gender ideology into the mainstream,” citing the former celebrity businessman’s 2012 support of letting biological men into beauty pageants and his campaign’s embrace of LGBT “pride.”
A supporter of same-sex “marriage,” Trump nominated a variety of pro-LGBT officials to various government posts and judicial vacancies, and continued some Obama-era LGBT policies such as an executive order on “gender identity nondiscrimination” and U.S. support for international recognition of homosexual relations at the United Nations Human Rights Council. His campaign actively courted LGBT voters with rainbow merchandise.
In December 2022, Trump hosted a gala for the Log Cabin Republicans at his Mar-a-Lago resort home, where he declared, “we are fighting for the gay community, and we are fighting and fighting hard. With the help of many of the people here tonight in recent years, our movement has taken incredible strides, the strides you’ve made here is incredible.” Many at the event reportedly celebrated Democrat President Joe Biden’s signing of the so-called “Respect for Marriage Act,” which forces all 50 states to recognize homosexual unions as marriage, though Trump himself did not mention the law in his remarks.
The governor’s supporters also question Trump’s ability to win a general election, citing GOP losses in 2018, 2020, and 2022, polls indicating that DeSantis performs better than Trump against Biden in swing states, and data showing that swing voters view the former president far more negatively than the other two men. Others warn that a nominee Trump may not end up running against Biden, who suffers from underwater job approval and strong concern about his old age and mental health, but rather a younger and less politically-damaged Democrat such as California Gov. Gavin Newsom or Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro.
For months the only major declared candidate in the GOP’s presidential primary, Trump maintains an intensely loyal core of supporters and an army of professional defenders in conservative media, and continues to hold a commanding lead in national primary polls. DeSantis has the edge in fundraising and is expected to be competitive in the early states, aided by an ambitious ground operation. Voting in the Republican primaries does not begin until next January with the Iowa caucuses.