Former President Trump on Monday virtually addressed a conservative Christian advocacy group that supports the end of abortion, telling the organization's members if he's reelected they would "make a comeback like just about no other group."
Trump delivered a roughly two-minute recorded video message at the Danbury Institute's Life and Liberty Forum, which featured remarks from evangelists and Christian leaders. He made no mention of abortion in his remarks to the group, though he vowed to defend "innocent life" if reelected.
"These are difficult times for our nation, and your work is so important. We can’t afford to have anyone sit on the sidelines," said Trump, the presumptive GOP nominee for November's presidential election. "Now is the time for us all to pull together and to stand up for our values and for our freedoms. And you just can’t vote Democrat."
Trump claimed Democrats are "against religion," though President Biden speaks often about his Catholic faith.
"We have to defend religious liberty, free speech, innocent life, and the heritage and tradition that built America into the greatest nation in the history of the world. But now we are, as you know, a declining nation," Trump told the group.
"I know that each of you is protecting those values every day, and I hope we’ll be defending them side by side for your next four years," he continued. "These are going to be your years, because you’re going to make a comeback like just about no other group."
Trump's virtual appearance at the Danbury Institute made headlines given the group's hard-line approach on certain issues.
The group describes itself as "committed to truth and virtue in a world that validates absurdity as normal and ridicules what 10 years ago was taken for granted." Its website likens abortion to "child sacrifice on the altar of self" and claims marriage "is a unique union between one man and one woman for life, and sexual intimacy is to be expressed only within this marital relationship."
On the campaign trail, Trump has repeatedly taken credit for ending Roe v. Wade through his appointment of three conservative Supreme Court justices. But he has also declined to take a position on a federal limit for abortion, instead saying it should be left up to individual states to decide through legislation or referendum how to handle the procedure.
Trump has also argued Republicans must take into account the political ramifications of their messaging on abortion.
“You must follow your heart on this issue, but remember, you must also win elections to restore our culture and in fact to have our country, which is currently and very sadly a nation in decline," Trump said in an April video statement on abortion. "Our nation needs help. It needs unity, it needs all of us to work closely together."
Democrats have repeatedly tied Trump to the restrictive abortion policies enacted in Texas, Florida and other conservative states, highlighting stories of women who have been unable to get proper health care as a result.
The Biden campaign has sought to draw a clear contrast between Trump's record on abortion and that of the Biden White House, which has taken steps to try to protect access to the procedure and abortion medication following the end of Roe.
“If you want to know who Trump will fight for in a second term, look at who he’s spending his time speaking to: anti-abortion extremists who call abortion ‘child sacrifice’ and want to ‘eradicate’ abortion ‘entirely,'" Biden campaign spokesperson Sarafina Chitika said Monday in response to Trump's remarks.
"A second Trump term is sure to bring more extreme abortion bans with no exceptions, women punished for seeking the care they need, and doctors criminalized for providing care," Chitika added. "Women can and will stop him by reelecting President Biden and Vice President Harris this November.”
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