Donald Trump has been consistently inconsistent on abortion and reproductive rights

CHICAGO (AP) — Donald Trump has struggled to find a consistent answer to questions about abortion and reproductive rights.

The former president has continually shifted his stance or given vague, contradictory and sometimes nonsensical answers to questions on an issue that has become a major weak point for Republicans in this year’s election. Trump has sought to win over voters, particularly women, who are skeptical of his views, especially after he nominated three justices to the Supreme Court two years ago who helped overturn the nation’s abortion rights.

The latest example came this week when the Republican presidential candidate said some abortion laws were “too strict” and would be “revisited.”

“It will be renewed,” he said during a Fox News town hall event that aired Wednesday. “You will, you will, you will get a referendum in the end. They are too hard, too hard. And these are being renewed because there is already a movement in these states.”

Trump did not say whether he meant he would take action if he wins in November, nor did he say which states or laws he was talking about. He didn’t elaborate on what he meant by “renewed.”

He also appeared to contradict his own position when he referred to the strict abortion bans passed in Republican-controlled states since the Supreme Court’s Roe v. Wade had fallen. Trump recently said he would vote against a constitutional amendment in Florida that would seek to repeal the state’s six-week abortion ban. This decision came after he criticized the law as being too strict.

Trump oscillates between boasting about nominating the justices who helped overturn federal protections for abortion and trying to appear more neutral. It was an attempt to bridge the gap between his anti-abortion base and the majority of Americans who support abortion rights.

About six in 10 Americans believe their state should generally allow a person to have a legal abortion if they don’t want to get pregnant for some reason, according to a July poll by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research. Voters in seven states, including some conservative ones, have either protected abortion rights or rejected attempts to restrict them in statewide votes over the past two years.

Trump also repeated the narrative that he has returned the issue of abortion rights to the states, even though voters in about half of the states have no direct say on that or any other issue. This is particularly true for those living in the South, where Republican-controlled legislatures, many of which were rigged to give the GOP disproportionate power, have passed some of the strictest abortion bans since the overturning of Roe v. Wade.

Currently, 13 states have banned abortions at all stages of pregnancy, while others ban them after six weeks – before many women realize 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 breakdown of Trump’s wavering positions on reproductive rights.

On Tuesday, Trump claimed that some abortion laws were “too strict” and were being “revised.”

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

This came a day after he appeared to indicate he would vote for the measure. Trump had previously called Florida’s six-week lockdown a “terrible mistake” and too extreme. In an interview with Time magazine in April, Trump reiterated that he “thought six weeks was too strict.”

Trump’s most recent shift involved his views on a nationwide abortion ban.

During the vice presidential debate on October 1, Trump posted on his social media platform Truth Social that he would veto a nationwide abortion ban: “Everyone knows that I would not support a federal abortion ban under any circumstances and would in fact veto it .”It.”

This came just weeks after Trump repeatedly refused to say during the presidential debate with Democrat Kamala Harris whether he would veto a nationwide abortion ban if elected.

Trump’s running mate, Ohio Senator JD Vance, said in an interview with NBC News before the presidential debate that Trump would veto a ban. In response to debate moderators’ questions about Vance’s statement, Trump said: “To be fair, I haven’t spoken to JD about it. And I don’t mind if he has a certain opinion, but I don’t think he spoke for me.”