Over the weekend, former President Donald Trump signaled that the federal government should create national restrictions on abortion in a speech on the one-year anniversary of the Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization decision, which ended 50 years of Roe v. Wade.
During a 90-minute speech at a Faith and Freedom Coalition meeting, Trump said: "There of course remains a vital role for the federal government in protecting unborn life," USA Today reported.
This is a new stance for the former president, who previously kept the issue at arm's length, arguing "abortion rights" to be a state issue. As recently as April, reports indicated that Trump considered a federal ban on abortion a losing proposal for Republicans and was unlikely to support such a policy on the 2024 campaign trail.
In April, Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America issued a statement saying that Trump's assessment that abortion restrictions should be left up to individual states, not the federal government, was a, “morally indefensible position for a self-proclaimed pro-life presidential candidate.”
“President Trump’s assertion that the Supreme Court returned the issue of abortion solely to the states is a completely inaccurate reading of the Dobbs decision and is a morally indefensible position for a self-proclaimed pro-life presidential candidate to hold. Life is a matter of human rights, not states’ rights. Saying that the issue should only be decided at the states is an endorsement of abortion up until the moment of birth, even brutal late-term abortions in states like California, Illinois, New York and New Jersey. The only way to save these children is through federal protections, such as a 15-week federal minimum standard when the unborn child can feel excruciating pain," the statement explained. "We will oppose any presidential candidate who refuses to embrace at a minimum a 15-week national standard to stop painful late-term abortions while allowing states to enact further protections."
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Since the Supreme Court handed down the Dobbs decision, twenty-five states and counting have either banned abortion altogether or are putting restrictions on abortion based on gestational age, among other measures. The Faith and Freedom Coalition Executive Director Timothy Head told Townhall that the raw abortion numbers, although hard to measure, are dropping significantly and, "Frankly, those California, New York policies are growing further apart from the rest of the world."
Among those who question Trump's commitment to federally banning abortion is his former Vice President Mike Pence. A day before the Dobbs anniversary, Pence issued remarks at the same conference where he called on every other Republican presidential candidate to support a national 15-week abortion ban, which Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) has proposed.
“We must not rest and we must not relent until we restore the sanctity of life to the center of American law in every state in this country,” Pence said, according to the Associated Press. “Every Republican candidate for president should support a ban on abortion before 15 weeks as a minimum nationwide standard.”
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