It appears Donald Trump has finally defined his stance on a national abortion ban.
On Friday, the New York Times reported that the presumptive Republican nominee told his advisors that he “likes” the idea of a national ban on abortion at 16 weeks, or four months into pregnancy.
It’s a startling revelation that Trump would endorse a Republican effort to go further than simply handing the abortion debate back to the states. It would also mean Trump has stopped avoiding the abortion ban question.
The Trump campaign responded on Friday by highlighting the importance of states' rights, one of the primary reasons Republicans gave for wanting to overturn Roe v. Wade.
“President Trump appointed strong Constitutionalist federal judges and Supreme Court justices who overturned Roe v. Wade and sent the decision back to the states, which others have tried to do for over 50 years,” National Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said in a statement on the article.
Trump has previously bragged about overturning Roe v. Wade. The New York Times report, though, is an escalation that would officially end the states' rights lie.
Abortion will decide 2024:Trump is 'proud' about taking away abortion rights. Republicans will keep losing because of it.
It doesn’t matter to the party that states' rights was one of the reasons the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022.
Apparently, it doesn’t matter to Republicans that the majority of Americans disagree with the Supreme Court’s decision, and believe abortion should be legal to some degree, nor does it matter that the abortion rights side has prevailed in all six states where the right to choose has been on the ballot since the Dobbs ruling. It does not matter to them that supporting a 15-week abortion ban in Virginia led to their loss of the legislature.
It’s clear that what matters to Republicans is control.
They do not care about giving the states the authority to come up with their own abortion laws when their de facto nominee has now said he would support a national ban. They simply want to restrict what pregnant people are able to do with their bodies, even as it puts the lives of these people at risk.
The comments from Trump have given President Joe Biden a chance to highlight his own stance on protecting abortion rights.
“We all know Trump promised to overturn Roe v. Wade to get elected in 2016,” Biden said in a statement on Trump’s newfound position. “Does anyone doubt Trump has already cut a deal in private to ban abortion nationwide to get elected in 2024?”
I don’t doubt this. If Trump were to win in November, it would give the party the opportunity to impose a widely unpopular decision on the United States.
Abortion rights on the ballot:Biden refocuses his campaign on abortion rights, reminding voters Trump took Roe away
Conservatives have already said they intend to do this in the 180-Day Playbook, a plan from the folks at the Heritage Foundation for 2025 that includes using the 1873 Comstock Act to prevent sending the abortion drug mifepristone through the mail.
Trump isn’t the first Republican candidate to weigh in on a national abortion ban. Before he suspended his campaign, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis said he would support a 15-week national abortion ban.
Nikki Haley, the only candidate besides Trump left in the Republican primary race, has said she would commit to signing an abortion ban but didn’t specify a cutoff date. The former president is, however, the Republican frontrunner in this election.
If Trump is saying that he supports a national abortion ban, voters should believe that this is the next goal of the Republican Party – even if it goes against their belief in “states’ rights,” and goes past what their stated goal was eight years ago.
The party's hypocrisy apparently does not matter to them. Neither do the opinions of voters.
Follow USA TODAY elections columnist Sara Pequeño on X, formerly Twitter, @sara__pequeno and Facebook facebook.com/PequenoWrites.
Trump admits he 'likes' a national abortion ban. It's hypocritical.
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17.02.2024
It appears Donald Trump has finally defined his stance on a national abortion ban.
On Friday, the New York Times reported that the presumptive Republican nominee told his advisors that he “likes” the idea of a national ban on abortion at 16 weeks, or four months into pregnancy.
It’s a startling revelation that Trump would endorse a Republican effort to go further than simply handing the abortion debate back to the states. It would also mean Trump has stopped avoiding the abortion ban question.
The Trump campaign responded on Friday by highlighting the importance of states' rights, one of the primary reasons Republicans gave for wanting to overturn Roe v. Wade.
“President Trump appointed strong Constitutionalist federal judges and Supreme Court justices who overturned Roe v. Wade and sent the decision back to the states, which others have tried to do for over 50 years,” National Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said in a statement on the article.
Trump has previously bragged about........
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