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Donald Trump tried to strike a brand new tone on the problem of abortion this week, saying he could be “nice for ladies and their reproductive rights” — to the frustration of anti-abortion advocates.
The former president invoked the phrase in a publish on Truth Social on Friday, reflecting his marketing campaign’s frenzied try to reset the narrative within the race towards Vice President Kamala Harris and current extra reasonably on the problem of abortion, which has plagued Republicans electorally since Roe v. Wade was overturned in 2022.
Democrats ceaselessly use the phrase “reproductive rights” as a stand-in for abortion but additionally to refer extra broadly to a variety of medical practices associated to child-bearing, resembling contraception and in vitro fertilization. Support for reproductive rights, when invoked by Democrats, nearly all the time means help for entry to abortion. In distinction, Republicans hardly ever discuss abortion in that approach, and anti-abortion advocates rapidly took discover of Trump’s tonal shift.
Lila Rose, founding father of the anti-abortion group Live Action, talking on her podcast on Friday, criticized Trump for attempting to “ingratiate himself with these which are pro-abortion” along with his use of the phrase.
“Not solely is it not principled, it’s not going to assist the Trump marketing campaign to be attempting to sound like a Democrat proper now,” Rose stated.
Kristan Hawkins, president of Students for Life Action, stated on X that the Truth Social publish had “understandably upset many inside the pro-life motion.” National Review editor Philip Klein wrote that, within the battle over abortion, it “more and more appears like Trump is becoming a member of the opposite aspect.”
Trump’s marketing campaign advised the Truth Social publish was aligned along with his earlier positions on abortion and different reproductive points.
“As President Trump has constantly said, he helps the rights of people of their respective states to find out their legal guidelines on abortion. President Trump additionally strongly helps guaranteeing ladies have entry to the care they should create wholesome households, together with widespread entry to IVF, contraception, and contraception, and he all the time will,” stated Karoline Leavitt, the marketing campaign’s nationwide press secretary.
The Truth Social publish got here after per week the place Democrats repeatedly went after Trump on the problem of abortion on the Democratic National Convention, which featured tales of girls who struggled to obtain ample well being care within the post-Roe period. Harris, in her Thursday handle, sought to tie restrictive state abortion legal guidelines on to the previous president, saying victims of sexual assault have been being denied abortions “due to Donald Trump.”
But Trump has additionally repeatedly pissed off anti-abortion advocates over the course of his marketing campaign by declining to go additional in limiting abortion entry. In an interview earlier this week, Trump stated he wouldn’t use the Comstock Act to ban mail supply of abortion medicine, one thing anti-abortion advocates had pushed for. And earlier this yr, he opted not to name for a nationwide abortion ban or restriction as some Republicans have advocated for, as a substitute saying the query of authorized abortion ought to proceed to be determined on the state stage.
Anti-abortion advocacy teams have backed Trump regardless of these disagreements, and the previous president continues to explain the appointing of Supreme Court justices who would go on to overturn Roe v. Wade as one of many key achievements of his first administration.
But Trump, who attended the March for Life as president, has additionally appeared aware that the politics of abortion have shifted since Roe was overturned, significantly because the abortion rights aspect has gained referendums even in crimson states up to now two years. He blamed anti-abortion advocates for the GOP’s 2022 midterm losses and his marketing campaign pushed for language calling for a nationwide abortion ban to be faraway from the Republican Party’s official platform, changing it with language mirroring his personal said place that the problem must be left as much as the states.
Trump has declined to say up to now how he would vote in an upcoming referendum in his house state of Florida that might restore the proper to abortion till viability, changing the state’s present 6-week ban.
