When Donald J. Trump ran for president in 2016, anti-abortion movement leaders demanded a series of promises from him in return for supporting his nomination.
They called for Supreme Court justices who would overturn Roe v. Wade. They insisted that he stop funding Planned Parenthood. They pushed for a vice president who would champion their cause. And every time he said yes.
But that was back then.
Since Roe v. With Wade left on the “ash heap of history,” as anti-abortion leaders like to say, they are no longer in charge. Their movement remains powerful in Republican-controlled statehouses and conservative courts, but nationally it is weaker than it has been in years. Many Republican strategists and candidates view their cause, even the decades-old term “pro-life,” as politically toxic. And on Monday, their biggest champion, the man they call the “most pro-life president in history,” chose politics over principles – and launched a series of vitriolic attacks on some of their top leaders.
In his clearest statement yet on the future of abortion rights since Roe was overturned in 2022, Mr. Trump made clear how flawed he has always been as a messenger for the anti-abortion cause. When he first flirted with a presidential run in 1999, Mr. Trump made his position on abortion clear: “I’m a big supporter of abortion,” he said. A dozen years later, he reversed that stance: “Just for a moment, I’m pro-life,” he told attendees at the Conservative Political Action Conference in 2011.
After the Supreme Court decision, his support changed again. While he bragged about appointing three of the justices who overturned Roe, he blamed the movement for Republican losses in the midterm elections. He pondered aloud the idea of a federal ban but refused to give it the kind of outspoken support that anti-abortion leaders had wanted.
In his four-minute video statement on Monday, Mr. Trump said that states and their voters should decide abortion policy for themselves, in language that sounded pro-abortion to the most outspoken anti-abortion activists. He supported access to fertility treatments such as IVF and advocated exceptions to the abortion ban in cases of rape, incest and the life of the mother.
His remarks contained few details. Mr. Trump sidestepped the question of whether he would support a federal abortion ban if legislation were introduced to him as president. He did not say whether he supported state bans that did not provide those exemptions or whether he would vote for a measure to enshrine abortion rights in his home state of Florida. And he did not address the experiences of women who faced impossible decisions and medical crises in states where the procedure is now banned.
“You have to follow your heart or in many cases your religion or your beliefs,” he said. “Do what is right for your family and do what is right for yourself.”
Mr. Trump later said he believed his statement defused what he viewed as a toxic issue for his party by giving Republicans the opportunity to campaign on more politically favorable issues, including what he described on social media as “the terrible border, inflation, bad economy, etc. described the death and destruction of our country!”
Some of the most outspoken anti-abortion advocates said that as much as Mr. Trump wanted to neutralize the politics of the issue, he could not escape what his presidency had instigated. States across the country are embroiled in disputes over the details of their procedural restrictions as Democrats across the country push ballot measures to enshrine abortion rights in state constitutions. Stories of women denied the procedure continue to dominate the news. And the Supreme Court is expected to rule in June on restricting access to a key drug used in abortion procedures.
Although Mr. Trump’s views on whether he would sign a national abortion ban remain unclear, his allies and supporters are pushing forward plans to restrict abortion rights with proposals and executive actions that could go beyond a national ban in a possible second Trump administration .
“Saying that the abortion issue belongs to the states is not going to remove it from the national election,” said Leonard A. Leo, a longtime leader of the Federalist Society who played an influential role in Trump’s selection for the Supreme Court , in an interview .
Still, Mr. Trump’s comments underscored how difficult it has been for the anti-abortion movement to gain traction in the post-Roe era. For decades, abortion opponents had one central goal: overturning Roe. Now they face a political landscape radically altered by that decision, and a presumptive Republican presidential nominee who no longer sees them as an undeniable asset but as a potential political liability.
Over the weekend, leaders of anti-abortion groups learned that a statement was coming from Mr. Trump. They called around, trying to figure out what it would say.
Marjorie Dannenfelser, the president of Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America, the leading anti-abortion group, said she spoke with Mr. Trump on Monday morning. Her group extracted many promises from Mr. Trump in 2016 and frequently visited the White House. But their attempt to persuade Mr. Trump to support a 15-week federal ban failed.
“His concern is purely political,” Ms. Dannenfelser said in an interview. “It’s a big disappointment. It’s a total eclipse of reason, and that only happens in abortion policy for Republicans.”
Trump’s vice president, Mike Pence, called his former boss’s announcement a “slap in the face” to abortion opponents who supported Mr. Trump in two previous elections. “Too many Republican politicians are only too ready to give up the fight for their lives,” he wrote on social media.
Mr. Trump responded to the criticism with a series of scathing attacks on Ms. Dannenfelser and Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, who also questioned the former president’s commitment to the anti-abortion movement on Monday. Mr. Trump took full credit for the decision to overturn Roe, ignoring decades of work by activists and lawyers to build a conservative movement to undermine Roe.
“Lindsey, Marjorie and others fought unsuccessfully for years until I came and did the job,” he posted on his social media page Truth Social. “We cannot allow our country to suffer further damage by losing elections on an issue that always should have been decided by the states and now will be!”
Those who were less publicly critical did not face the same wrath. Kristan Hawkins, the president of Students for Life, said Mr. Trump “very clearly affirmed the family” in his statement. She was confident that if elected, Mr. Trump would staff his administration with aides who would work to further restrict abortion rights and access across the country.
“I hope he sticks with that statement,” she said, “and then goes further and starts naming pro-life appointees, naming his pro-life vice president and pledging that he will only be pro-life.” “We will appoint leaders to the Department from Justice, Health and Human Services, Education, FDA, EPA, along the entire Cabinet line.”
None of the critics said they planned to withhold their support for Mr. Trump in November, an indication that the former president may not pay a very heavy price for not taking a more aggressive federal position.
The idea of a 15-week ban has always been more about politics than politics. Such a proposal would not end many abortions. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, nearly 94 percent of abortions occur before 13 weeks of pregnancy. Nor is it likely that such a ban would gain enough support in the Senate to pass. And it would have no impact on the 18 states that currently ban abortions before that point in pregnancy.
But it was unpopular with independent and moderate voters. Polling by KFF, a nonprofit focused on health policy, found that six in 10 voters opposed a federal ban after 16 weeks — a finding disputed by many anti-abortion advocates but not by other Republican strategists.
“He actually hit the right tone with that statement,” said Nicole McCleskey, a Republican pollster who has conducted focus groups on abortion. “He ended up where the majority of most Americans are.”
Democrats disagree. They point to polls showing that most Americans support some form of abortion rights and want those rights reinstated into federal law. From the White House to candidates on voting floors, Democrats were ready to launch a barrage of attacks blaming the former president for what some called the “cruelty and chaos” caused by abortion restrictions.
“Donald Trump made it clear again today that he, more than anyone else in America, is the person who will fight for the end of Roe v. Wade is responsible,” President Biden said in a statement. “After causing the chaos of overturning Roe, he tries to say, ‘Oh, whatever.’ Don’t punish me for it. I just want to win.’”
Democrats argued that Mr. Trump’s silence on the issue was effectively an endorsement of outright abortion bans in states like Texas, where abortions are banned in almost all circumstances. Their efforts underscore the difficulties Mr. Trump could face as he tries to distance himself from an issue that will most likely remain in the headlines through Election Day and beyond.
“He fully understands how unpopular his party’s position on this issue is and how unpopular his actions have been,” said Mini Timmaraju, the president of Reproductive Freedom for All, an abortion rights group formerly known as NARAL Pro-Choice America. “He’s really trying to do both and we can’t let him get away with it.”
Just hours after Mr. Trump’s statement, Mr. Biden’s campaign released a digital ad highlighting the story of a Texas woman who was denied an abortion, developed sepsis and may never be able to have a child again.
In the display, text flashes on the screen. “Trump did this,” it says over her sobs.
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2024-04-09 01:14:58
www.nytimes.com