US anti-abortion activists, including allies of Donald Trump, have a strategy to ban abortion nationwide – one that bypasses Congress and the American people. It’s a plan that hinges on Mr Trump’s re-election in November and the use of a little-known 19th Century law.

At this year’s annual “Pro-Life Summit” on 20 January, guests listened to a keynote speech from Marjorie Dannenfelser, head of Susan B Anthony Pro-Life America, one of the country’s most influential anti-abortion groups.

Ms Dannenfelser is widely credited with convincing Donald Trump to appoint three anti-abortion justices to the Supreme Court during his presidential term. In June 2022, those appointees helped overturn Roe v Wade, rescinding the nationwide right to abortion.

It was a generational victory for the anti-abortion movement. The runway had opened, activists said at the time, to an abortion-free future.

But in the nearly two years since, their campaign has stalled in crucial ways. The American public has shown consistent support for abortion access, even in conservative states.

And the movement’s ultimate goal – a federal abortion ban – has remained out of reach, a near-impossibility in a divided Congress that can unite behind few legislative priorities.

The political reality has not escaped anti-abortion campaigners.

Addressing her audience in the grand ballroom of a Washington DC hotel a rapt crowd of the movement’s most devoted followers – Ms Dannenfelser spent nearly half of her speech urging the audience not to lose hope.

Read Original Article