WASHINGTON, D.C. (LifeSiteNews) – The Trump White House is reportedly upset at U.S. Sen. Josh Hawley’s plans for a new pro-life nonprofit initiative, continuing a tension between the pro-life and MAGA movements that has persisted since the 2022 midterm elections.

As first reported by the Daily Signal, the Missouri Republican and his wife’s Love Life Initiative (LLI) aims to run “pro-family national ad campaigns.” Axios added that they plan to get involved in supporting state ballot initiatives, such as a proposed amendment to the Missouri Constitution to ban most abortions and underage gender transitions.

The new group cites polling it commissioned from OnMessage Inc. finding that 77% agree “as a society, we should be working towards having as few abortions as possible;” and 80% that “there needs to be at least some point during pregnancy when we can all agree that a baby cannot be aborted, unless the life of the mother is at risk.”

The polling also found that 42% agreed chemical abortion drugs delivered by mail and taken at home are unsafe (compared with 37% who thought they were safe), but opposition to the practice rises to 64% when informed about the U.S. Food & Drug Administration’s (FDA’s) loosening of safety standards and complications.

“We believe there needs to be a strong voice advocating for life and making it easier to start a family,” Hawley said. “That is fundamental to who we are as Americans and the future of our country. And it is how we will be judged as a society. This is a generational project, not just about the next election cycle.”

On Monday, Axios reported that advisers for President Donald Trump are “furious” with Hawley’s plan, as they fear the political fallout from reviving voter attention on abortion ahead of the 2026 midterm elections, which are already expected to be challenging for Republicans.

“Clearly, Senator Hawley and his political team learned nothing from the 2022 elections, when the SCOTUS abortion ruling (overturning Roe v. Wade) resuscitated the Democrats in the midterms,” one unnamed “close Trump adviser” said. Another said the focus should instead be on “aggressive action focused on positive gains in the economy” (a strategy that is itself controversial, given voters’ economic dissatisfaction). “That alone will be the driving force behind the next election,” the adviser said. “Picking a fight on an issue like abortion in a midterm is the height of asinine stupidity.”

Hawley himself has yet to respond, but the premise that pro-life stands were to blame for Republicans’ political misfortunes is hotly disputed. As previously detailed by LifeSiteNews, 94% of incumbents won in 2022 regardless of their abortion position, and that year was distinguished by several non-incumbent GOP candidates who struggled with inexperience, messaging, and other weaknesses. In 2024, while Trump had taken great pains to make the GOP more moderate on abortion, Democrats and the abortion lobby spent millions painting their opponents as anti-abortion extremists anyway, muddying any effort to establish a clear link between abortion perceptions and electoral performance.

Since returning to office, Trump has made numerous moves to cut the abortion industry’s federal funding, but at the same time allowed abortion pills to continue being dispensed by mail in violation of federal law. Hawley has been one of the federal government’s most vocal Capitol Hill critics on the matter, including calling for the firing of FDA Commissioner Marty Makary for allegedly “slow walking” a promised review of abortion pill safety data until after the midterms.