Anti-abortion leaders and advocates say Trump will have to regain their trust
Cami Mondeaux
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Several anti-abortion leaders and advocates have voiced mixed feelings about Donald Trump’s reelection campaign, with many noting the former president will have to work to regain their trust.
Trump is often hailed by his supporters for the anti-abortion stance that he touted while he was in office, especially for the appointments of conservative judges to the Supreme Court, which ultimately led to the reversal of Roe v. Wade last summer. However, the former president has been criticized in recent weeks after he slammed Republicans for botching their abortion message during the midterm elections.
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“It wasn’t my fault that the Republicans didn’t live up to expectations in the midterms,” Trump wrote in a Truth Social post. “It was the ‘abortion issue,’ poorly handled by many Republicans, especially those that firmly insisted on no exceptions, even in the case of rape, incest, or [the] life of the mother, that lost large numbers of voters. Also, the people that pushed so hard, for decades, against abortion, got their wish from the U.S. Supreme Court, [and] just plain disappeared, not to be seen again.”
The post was met with scrutiny from several of his supporters, who said it was disappointing to see Trump seemingly shift his position on the issue.
“He was our champion,” one Trump supporter in Washington who attended the March for Life on Friday told the Washington Times. “Then he said these things, which just hurt everyone. It’s one thing to expect this from the [politically correct] police, but not from President Trump. I don’t know if I can vote for him again.”
Others echoed similar sentiments, noting they weren’t concerned that Trump couldn’t accomplish anti-abortion agenda items if he took office — rather, they were unsure what position he would ultimately take.
“I’m not worried about the trust, I’m worried about the position, that’s what it’s always been,” Marjorie Dannenfelser, the president of political group Susan B. Anthony List, told the outlet. “His commitments before and that he followed through on were rock solid, the same is going to have to happen in order attract the support of the pro-life and evangelical and Catholic movements.”
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Trump previously supported abortion in the late 1990s before running on an anti-abortion campaign platform in 2016, ultimately winning support from several evangelical and conservative leaders. Now, they say he’ll need to clean up his message in order to win back their trust.
“He said we lost and it was the pro-lifers’ fault, that hurt him a lot with pro-lifers. It’s not that he can’t win them back … but a lot of conservatives, Catholics, and pro-lifers are trying to figure out what’s motivating him in his presidential campaign,” Josh Mercer, the founder of Catholic Vote, said.