Trump is consistently inconsistent on abortion and reproductive rights

Former Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump, left, and Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris during an ABC News presidential debate at the National Constitution Center, Tuesday, Sept. 10, 2024, in Philadelphia. AP Photo/Alex Brandon, Archive

CHICAGO — Donald Trump has had trouble finding a consistent message on issues around abortion and reproductive rights.

The former president constantly changed his position or offered vague, contradictory and sometimes absurd answers to questions on an issue that has become a major vulnerability for Republicans in this year’s elections. Trump has been trying to win over voters, especially women, skeptical of his views, especially after he nominated three Supreme Court justices who helped overturn the nation’s right to abortion two years ago.

The most recent example came this week, when the Republican presidential candidate said some abortion laws are “too harsh” and would be “remade.”

“It’s going to be redone,” he said during a Fox News press conference that aired Wednesday. “They go, you go, you end up with the people’s vote. They are very difficult, very difficult. And this will be redone because there is already movement in these states.”

Trump did not specify whether he meant he would take any kind of action if he won in November, and he did not say which states or laws he was talking about. He did not elaborate on what he meant by “remade.”

He also appeared to be contradicting his own position when referring to the strict abortion bans passed in Republican-controlled states since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade. Trump recently said he would vote against a constitutional amendment in Florida’s election that seeks to overturn the state’s six-week abortion ban. This decision came after he criticized the law as too harsh.

Trump has alternated between boasting about nominating judges who helped overturn federal abortion protections and trying to appear more neutral. It has been an attempt to bridge the divide between his base of anti-abortion supporters and the majority of Americans who support abortion rights.

About 6 in 10 Americans think their state should generally allow a person to have a legal abortion if they don’t want to get pregnant for any reason, according to a July poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research. Voters in seven states, including some conservative ones, have protected abortion rights or defeated attempts to restrict them on state 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 voters have no direct say on that or any other issue in about half the states. This is particularly true for those who live in the South, where Republican-controlled legislatures, many of which were manipulated to give the Republican Party disproportionate power, have enacted some of the strictest abortion bans since Roe v. Wade.

Currently, 13 states have banned abortion at all stages of pregnancy, while four others ban it after six weeks — before many women know they are pregnant.

Meanwhile, anti-abortion groups and their Republican allies in state governments are using a range of strategies to counter proposed ballot initiatives in at least eight states this year.

Here’s a summary of Trump’s fluctuating positions on reproductive rights.

VOTING MEASURE IN FLORIDA

On Tuesday, Trump said some abortion laws were “very harsh” and would be “remade.”

But in August, Trump said he would vote against a state ballot measure that attempts to repeal the six-week abortion ban passed by the Republican-controlled Legislature and signed by Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis.

This happened one day after he hinted that he would vote in favor of the measure. Trump previously called Florida’s six-week ban a “terrible mistake” and too extreme. In an interview with April Time magazine, Trump repeated that “he thought six weeks was too severe”.

A NATIONAL BAN

Trump’s latest about-face involved his views 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 I would not support a federal abortion ban under any circumstances, and by In fact, I would veto it. this.”

This came just weeks after 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 in an interview with NBC News before the presidential debate that Trump would veto the ban. In response to debate moderators who questioned him about Vance’s statement, Trump said: “I haven’t discussed it with JD, in all fairness. And I don’t care if he has a certain opinion, but I don’t think he was speaking for me.”

PRO-CHOICE FOR 15 WEEK BAN

The shift in Trump’s abortion policy positions began when the former reality TV star and developer began flirting with running for public office.

He once called himself “very pro-choice.” But before becoming president, Trump said he would “in fact 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.

At the annual 2018 March for Life, Trump expressed support for a federal ban on abortion starting at 20 weeks of pregnancy.

More recently, Trump suggested in March that he might support a national ban on abortion at around 15 weeks, before announcing that he would instead leave the matter up to the states.

ABORTION PILLS, PROSECUTING WOMEN

In the Time interview, Trump said it should be left up to states to decide whether to prosecute women for abortions or whether to monitor women’s pregnancies.

“The states will make that decision,” Trump said. “States will have to be comfortable or uncomfortable, not me.”

Democrats seized on comments he made in 2016, saying “there must be some form of punishment” for women who have abortions.

Trump also declined to comment on access to the abortion pill mifepristone, claiming he has “pretty strong opinions” on the issue. He said he would make a statement on the matter, but that never happened.

Trump responded similarly when asked about his opinion on the Comstock Act, a 19th-century law that has been revived by anti-abortion groups seeking to block the shipment of mifepristone.

IVF AND CONTRACEPTION

In May, Trump said during an interview with a Pittsburgh television station that he was open to supporting regulations on contraception and that his campaign would release a policy on the issue “very soon.” He later said his comments were misinterpreted.

In the KDKA interview, Trump was asked, “Do you support any restrictions on a person’s right to contraception?”

“We are looking into that and I will have a policy on that very soon,” Trump responded.

Since then, Trump has not released any policy statements on contraception.

Trump has also made contradictory statements about IVF.

During the Fox News town hall, which was recorded on Tuesday, Trump declared that he is “the father of in vitro fertilization,” despite acknowledging during his response that he needed an explanation about in vitro fertilization 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-Alabama, to “explain IVF very quickly” to him after the decision.

As concerns grew about access to fertility treatments, Trump pledged to promote in vitro fertilization by requiring health insurance companies or the federal government to pay for it. Such a move would be at odds with the actions of much of his own party.

Even though the Republican Party has attempted to create a national narrative that it is open to IVF, these messaging efforts have been undermined by GOP state legislators, Republican-dominated courts, and anti-abortion leaders within the party’s ranks, as well as by opposition to the legislature. attempts to protect access to IVF.