Trump rejects the pro-life position on abortion
Timothy P. Carney
Video Embed
Former President Donald Trump helped correct a 50-year-old grievous wrong when he appointed three Supreme Court justices who provided the margin to strike down Roe v. Wade, an indefensible ruling that had taken abortion mostly out of the democratic sphere.
But now that he is running to return to the White House, Trump is rejecting the pro-life position.
STUNNING 38% WOULD VOTE THIRD PARTY IN TRUMP-BIDEN ELECTION
In a rambling, incoherent back-and-forth with NBC News’s Kristen Welker, Trump repeatedly refused to support a 15-week federal abortion ban and attacked states for passing pro-life laws.
“I think what he did is a terrible thing and a terrible mistake,” Trump said of Florida’s law signed by Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) that bans abortions after six weeks of gestation, approximately when the nascent baby has a detectable heartbeat. The law has exceptions for rape, incest, and cases to save the mother’s life.
Many other Republican-run states have signed similar abortion laws since Roe fell in June 2022.
Then, Trump rejected the first part of the post-Roe pro-life policy framework: state-level restrictions on first-trimester abortions.
In the same interview, Trump repeatedly refused to take a stance on the second part of that framework: a federal ban on late-term abortions.
An overwhelming majority of abortions occur before the baby reaches 15 weeks of development, so a federal 15-week ban should be understood as a basic floor. Most people believe abortion should be generally illegal after 15 weeks.
Trump wouldn’t commit to 15 weeks. He wouldn’t even commit to setting any federal floor on protecting the unborn.
Trump rambled on and on, dodging questions, so we have to infer what his position is, but this much is clear: He opposes the pro-life laws states are passing, won’t commit to supporting a federal pro-life law, and won’t even commit to supporting a 15-week limit at the state or federal level.
Trump’s solution is typical Trump: self-aggrandizing and nonsensical. He promises to negotiate (you know, because he wrote a book on deal-making) a truce between the sides. My colleague Zach Faria makes the case that this is fantasy.
“You would have to be absolutely delusional to believe that. Senate Democrats tanked a 20-week abortion ban in 2018 and even shot down an attempt to provide protections for babies born alive after failed abortions in 2020. It is the mainstream position of Democratic politicians that there should be no restrictions on abortion at all. They are not going to compromise on abortion, an issue they claim is about nothing more than Republicans trying to ‘control women’s bodies.’”
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
“There is no compromise to be had. There is no hypothetical here you can even pose to try and give Trump some benefit of the doubt. Trump is trashing Republicans for successfully protecting unborn children because he thinks he can make Democrats happy on the issue, when the only thing they will accept is no abortion restrictions anywhere for any reason.”
The rational conclusion is that Trump doesn’t understand the abortion debate, he doesn’t mind abortion, and he just wants the matter to go away because it might be politically uncomfortable for him.