WASHINGTON, D.C., (LifeSiteNews) – Declaring every child a “precious and unique gift,” President Donald Trump has officially identified April 2018 as National Child Abuse Prevention Month.
Notably, the proclamation expressly includes the preborn, stating that all children are “blessings from our Creator” that have been “endowed from conception with value, purpose, and human dignity.”
“When supported by encouraging families and safe, strong communities, all children have the chance to reach their full potential and access the unlimited opportunities that our great Nation has to offer,” the presidential proclamation reads. “To realize this truth, we must dedicate ourselves to the noble cause of protecting and caring for our children.”
To that end, Trump called on the American people to “invest in the lives of our Nation’s children, to be aware of their safety and well-being, and to support efforts that promote their psychological, physical, and emotional development.”
Therefore, it continues, every American has a “civic and moral responsibility” to help guide children “toward a future full of hope and promise.”
The president cited statistics indicating that approximately a quarter of all childrenare abused or neglected globally, and that the lifetime costs of treatment for a single year’s worth of U.S. abuse and neglect cases comes to approximately $124 billion.
To alleviate these numbers, the proclamation encourages Americans to better familiarize themselves with, and carefully watch for, signs of child abuse. These signs can include abrupt changes in a child’s behavior, lack of treatment for physical injuries or medical problems, and children displaying a constant alertness in anticipation of bad things happening.
The proclamation goes on to praise individuals and organizations who provide care for at-risk children in both volunteer and professional capacities, and expresses particular gratitude toward foster and adoptive parents for “open[ing] their lives to children in need of loving and caring homes.”
“There are no substitutes for caring parents and guardians,” the statement continues. “But we recognize that friends, neighbors, educators, and places of worship have important roles to play in fostering the well-being of children.”
Citing its passage about conception, the pro-life group Operation Rescue inferred a “subtle swipe at abortion as child abuse” in the proclamation.
“Abortion is the ultimate child abuse, and Pres. Trump appears to agree with that in his statement about children from conception having value, purpose, and human dignity,” Operation Rescue President Troy Newman said. “The brutal dismemberment of babies during abortions, along with other barbaric methods of killing used to abort babies, are completely inconsistent with Trump’s child abuse prevention proclamation.”
“Child abuse is a horrendous problem in our nation, which has been worsened by the callous practice of abortion,” Newman added. “When one can kill a baby for any reason prior to birth, it devalues the lives of all children.”
Since taking office, Trump has won praise for his pro-life record. His actions include a variety of pro-life judicial and administrative appointees, executive actions that include restoring the ban on overseas abortion funding and rolling back the Obamacare abortifacient coverage mandate, and vocally supporting the pro-life cause by addressing the March for Life and endorsing the Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act.
On the other hand, pro-lifers most recently expressed frustration with the president for signing a $1.3 trillion spending plan that continues giving Planned Parenthood more than $500 million per year. Trump argued that the need to fund the military left him with no choice, and insisted he would “never sign another bill like this again.”
Whatever the president may have intended to convey about abortion, his proclamation echoes the sentiments of pro-lifers.
“I am confident that our combined efforts in combatting these evils will help create a world that is more tender, compassionate, and inviting to our children for centuries to come,” Trump declared.
