Trump has been consistently inconsistent on abortion and reproductive rights

Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump, left, and Democratic presidential nominee 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, File

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 abortion at all stages of pregnancy, while four more ban it 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.

FLORIDA BALLOT MEASURE

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.”

A NATIONAL BAN

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 even veto it.” Insert “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.”

PRO choice on the 15-week ban

Trump’s changing stance on abortion policy began when the former reality TV star and developer began considering running for office.

He once described himself as “very decisive”. But before he became president, Trump said he “would actually 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 must be some form of punishment” for women who seek abortions – a position he quickly reversed.

At the annual “March for Life” in 2018, Trump spoke out in favor of a nationwide ban on abortion from the 20th week of pregnancy.

More recently, Trump suggested in March that he might support a nationwide abortion ban for about 15 weeks, before announcing he would instead leave the matter to the states.

Abortion pills, prosecution of women

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

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

Democrats have seized on his 2016 comments, saying that “there has to 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 views” on the issue. He said he would issue a statement on the matter, but that never happened.

Trump responded similarly when asked for his opinion on the Comstock Act, a 19th-century law revived by anti-abortion groups to block shipments of mifepristone.

IVF and contraception

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

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

“We are looking into it and I will have a policy on it shortly,” Trump replied.

Trump has not released a policy statement on contraception since then.

Trump has also made contradictory statements about in vitro fertilization.

During the Fox News Town Hall recorded Tuesday, Trump declared that he was “the father of IVF,” although he acknowledged in his response that he needed an explanation on IVF in February after the Alabama Supreme Court ruled had frozen embryos qualify as children under state law.

Trump said he directed Sen. Katie Britt, R-Ala., to “explain IVF to him very quickly” after the ruling.

As concerns about access to fertility treatments grew, Trump promised to promote IVF 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.

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

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