Trump is consistently inconsistent on abortion and reproductive rights
CHICAGO– CHICAGO (AP) — Donald Trump has struggled to find a consistent message for questions about abortion and reproductive rights.
The former president did that constantly shifted his views or gave vague, contradictory and sometimes nonsensical answers to questions about an issue that a great vulnerability for Republicans in this year’s elections. Trump has tried to win over voters, especially womenskeptical of his views, especially after he nominated three Supreme Court justices who helped overturn the nation’s right to abortion two years ago.
The latest example came this week when the Republican presidential candidate said some abortion laws are “too strict” and would be “renewed.”
“It’s going to be redone,” he said during a Fox News town hall that aired Wednesday. “They go, you go, you ultimately get a vote of the people. They’re too tough, too tough. And those will be done again, because there is already movement in those states.”
Trump did not specify whether he meant he would take any action if he wins in November, and he did not say which states or laws he was talking about. He did not elaborate on what he meant by ‘renewed’.
He also appeared to contradict his own position when he referred to the strict abortion bans that have been implemented in Republican-controlled states since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade. Trump recently said he would vote against a constitutional amendment on the ballot in Florida that aims to overturn the state’s six-week abortion ban. That decision came after he criticized the law as too strict.
Trump has torn between bragging about appointing the judges who helped undermine federal protections against abortion and trying to appear more neutral. It has been an attempt to bridge the gap between his base of anti-abortion supporters and… the majority of Americans who support abortion rights.
About 6 out of 10 Americans generally believe their state should allow someone to get a legal abortion if he or she does not want to be pregnant for any reason, according to a July poll from the Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research. Voters in seven statesincluding some conservative ones, have either protected abortion rights or thwarted efforts to restrict them in statewide ballots over the past two years.
Trump has also repeated the narrative that he has returned the issue of abortion rights to the states, even though he has done so voters do not have a direct vote on that or another topic in about half the states. This is especially true for those living in the South, where Republican-controlled legislatures, many of which have been gerrymandered to give the Republican Party disproportionate power, have passed some of the strictest abortion bans since Roe v. Wade was overturned.
Currently, thirteen states have banned abortion at all stages of pregnancy, with even more banning it after six weeks – before many women know they are pregnant.
Meanwhile, anti-abortion groups and their Republican allies in state governments are using this tool a range of strategies counter proposed ballot initiatives in at least eight states this year.
Here’s a look at Trump’s varying positions on reproductive rights.
On Tuesday, Trump claimed that some abortion laws are “too strict” and would be “renewed.”
But in August, Trump said he would vote against a state ballot measure that seeks to repeal the six-week abortion ban passed by the Republican-controlled Legislature and signed by Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis.
That came a day after him seemed to indicate he would vote in favor of the measure. Trump previously called Florida’s six-week ban a… “terrible mistake” and too extreme. In an April Interview with Time MagazineTrump repeated that he thought “six weeks was too strict.”
Trump’s latest misconduct also involved his own positions on a national abortion ban.
During the October 1 vice presidential debate, Trump posted on his social media platform Truth Social that he would veto a national abortion ban: “Everyone knows that under no circumstances would I support a federal abortion ban, and in fact I would veto speak out about It.”
This came just weeks later Trump repeatedly refused to say during the presidential debate with Democrat Kamala Harris whether he would veto a national abortion ban if elected.
Trump’s running mate, Senator JD Vance of Ohio, said an interview with NBC News before the presidential debate that Trump would veto a ban. In response to debate moderators who asked him about Vance’s statement, Trump said: “I honestly did not discuss it with JD. And I don’t mind if he has a certain opinion, but I don’t think he was speaking for me.
Trump’s shifting positions on abortion policy began when the former reality TV star and developer began flirting with running for office.
He once called himself “very pro-choice.” But before he became president, Trump said he would “indeed support a ban,” according to his book “The America We Deserve,” published in 2000.
In his first year as president, he said he was “pro-life with exceptions” but also said “there has to be some form of punishment” for women who seek abortions – a position he quickly reversed.
During the 2018 annual March for Life, Trump expressed support for a federal ban on abortion during or after twenty weeks of pregnancy.
More recently, Trump suggested in March that he might support a national ban on abortions for about fifteen weeks before announcing that he would instead leave the matter to the states.
In the Time interview, Trump said it should be left up to the states to decide whether to do so persecute women for abortions or to monitor women’s pregnancies.
“The states will make that decision,” Trump said. “The states will have to be comfortable or uncomfortable, not me.”
Democrats have seized the comments he made in 2016 saying that “there has to be some form of punishment” for women who have abortions.
Trump too declined to comment on access to the abortion pill mifepristoneclaiming he has “pretty strong views” on the issue. He said he would make a statement on the matter, but it never came.
Trump responded similarly when asked about his thoughts on the matter the Comstock Acta 19th century law revived by anti-abortion groups seeking to block the shipment of mifepristone.
In May, Trump said during an interview with a Pittsburgh television station that he was open to supportive regulations in the field of contraception and that his campaign would release a policy on the issue “very soon.” He later said his comments had been misinterpreted.
In the KDKA interview, Trump was asked, “Do you support any restrictions on a person’s right to contraception?”
“We are looking at that and I will be drafting policy on that very soon,” Trump responded.
Trump has not issued a policy statement on contraception since.
Trump has also made conflicting statements about it in vitro fertilization.
During the Fox News town hall, recorded Tuesday, Trump declared he is “the father of IVF,” despite acknowledging during his response that he needed an explanation about IVF in February after the Alabama Supreme Court ruled that frozen embryos can be considered children under state law.
Trump said he instructed Sen. Katie Britt, R-Ala., to “explain IVF to him very quickly” in the aftermath of the ruling.
As concerns about access to fertility treatments increased, Trump pledged to promote IVF by requiring health insurers or the federal government to pay for it. Such a step would be contrary to the actions of a large part of his own party.
Even though the Republican Party has tried to create a national narrative that it is receptive to IVF, these messaging efforts have been undermined by GOP state lawmakers, Republican-dominated courts and anti-abortion leaders within the party’s ranks, as well as opposition to legislative efforts to protect IVF access.
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