For many in the Republican Party, pro-family rhetoric is slowly replacing pro-life rhetoric. What began this July with President-elect Donald Trump being notoriously vague on abortion has grown into full-coalition cooperation for a new Republican establishment founded on the family.
The party is attempting an intentional reframe of its primary goals as favored policy avenues animate the impression that “pro-life is out. Pro-family is in.” And people seem to be moved by the vision: Positive responses abound on X, where a recent Volvo Cars advertisement gained traction as a testament to the family. The nearly four-minute, superbly shot advertisement from the automaker depicts a young, unmarried couple receiving pregnancy news and the father’s eager musing on their future. Volvo “for life,” concludes the ad.
It is at once pro-family and pro-life — the man’s hopes for a life with his girlfriend and their child show only joy, and joy even amid difficult aspects, while the ending tells viewers that life is worth saving.
The public’s support for the message is especially noticeable in contrast to a new Jaguar advertisement. The automaker has rebranded to androgyny, telling its audience to “copy nothing” and “break moulds.”
Jaguar’s ad is hard to watch, but it is helpful in communicating Volvo’s point: Family is the future, and it is truly creative, original, and ordinary. People want to participate in this side of life. That family life can be simple, attainable, and desirable is the message the GOP is trying to make a reality — and the ideal that Volvo Cars, oddly enough, is relaying with its product.
The shift is warranted but unfortunate because of the immense gravity of the issue of abortion: Opponents see it as no less than the taking of a human life. But that weight does not make it unnecessary to redefine the scope of the pro-life approach.
Voters have been unreceptive to both strict abortion bans and hyperactive pro-abortion messaging. Following the decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization that led to the overturning of Roe v. Wade, many showed up for the 2022 midterm elections to reject statewide abortion ban proposals. As a result, President-elect Donald Trump’s 2024 campaign gave pride of place to pro-family, state-level policy goals, while Vice President Kamala Harris made “reproductive rights” her crowning issue. Voters rejected Harris’s bid in swift favor for Trump, yet 7 out of 10 states passed amendments allowing for abortion.
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The idea for a prominent family policy sees abortion’s grip on society as having to do with parenthood seeming an insurmountable challenge and a miserable one. That is the hope, at least — that broad support for abortion has more to do with socioeconomics than plain libertinism. Research supports that the traditional family model links to stability and success, but tax policies and consumer prices make it an abstract that is difficult to motivate.
Tackling the challenges to whether people want children at all is the first step to persuading an otherwise indifferent constituency, and the incoming administration is all-in on the project. Family life has to be more real and more the standard. Once that view is feasible, maybe people will see the imperative in defending life.