Posted on 09/19/2023 2:30:10 PM PDT by SoConPubbie
Critics of former President Donald J. Trump have suggested his approach to abortion is less than desired, citing clipped videos from an interview with Meet the Press, and fundamentally attempting to misrepresent his position and history on the subject.
The self-declared “most pro life president in US history” explained that he now prefers to leave the matter up to the states, and to “sit down with both sides… and negotiate something, and we’ll end up with peace on that issue for the first time in 52 years.”
This, after all, was the entire point of the Dobbs ruling, and indeed the U.S. Constitution. But critics who now demand a federal ban have turned on Trump in recent days. Those same critics, hardly coincidentally, are also vocal supporters of Florida Governor Ron DeSantis’s presidential aspirations.
Using an issue like abortion in a primary against Trump is not just underhanded, it’s also embarrassing for them when confronted with Trump’s record.
Trump’s most notable achievement on abortion actually came after he left office. Namely, to have the United States Supreme Court remove Roe v Wade‘s constitutional protections in June 2022, by having appointed several conservative justices to the court.
Indeed, Trump oversaw the appointment of over 150 conservative justices while President, including 43 U.S. Court of Appeals judges and 99 District Court judges. Roe’s overturning alone makes him the most pro-life president in U.S. history, but the ruling itself Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization – itself guarantees the matter is returned to the people’s representatives, not federal agencies.
The Trump administration permitted states to defund Planned Parenthood of Title X funds in 2019, leading to a 63 percent reduction in “family planning” visits as well as a $809.4 million funding cut from the program. The move was recognized as a “major policy win for social conservatives looking to prohibit access to abortion.”
The former President overturned Obama-era and the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) rules to allow states to withhold or cut funding for Planned Parenthood within the first few months of his presidential term in 2017.
Trump also made it a requirement for health insurance companies to disclose if plans cover abortion and even canceled huge contracts for taxpayer-funded experimentation with body parts of aborted babies.
Trump introduced a new division at the HHS devoted to “conscience and religious freedom” in 2018, enabling healthcare workers to refuse to undertake specific roles, such as birth control or abortion, based on their religious convictions.
Under his oversight, the HHS published an updated five-year plan between 2018-2022, in which it dedicated its operations to “protecting the life of all Americans at every stage of life, beginning at conception.”
The Trump administration cut off all overseas funding for abortions and announced that there is no international right to abortion at a United Nations meeting in 2019.
The U.S., under Trump’s leadership, further removed funding for the pro-abortion United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), which has been “complicit in China’s oppressive population control activities, including birth limitation policies and forced abortions,” according to SBA Pro-life America.
That primary challengers would now try to hurl accusations of being “pro abortion” at Trump is self-evidently ludicrous. Especially since none of them were complaining when the above achievements were being racked up.
It speaks to something far darker at the heart of Never Trumpism, to use an issue like this as a cudgel against a man with the best record of any president, living or dead.
Pssst!
Over here.
As I understand, it is OK with Trump if states allow post-birth abortions as long as the states legalize it.
Sounds like he was against that from the interview.
“Sounds like he was against that from the interview.”
Nope. He prefers to leave it up to the states.
Well it is up to states now
As I understand, you are just making stuff up.
Did you watch the interview on Meet the Press? There was a very good discussion on where he stood on that very issue. He said states should decide on abortion rights with some exceptions carved out. He said most people do not want late term abortions to be legal and especially not allowing a baby that is born alive after an unsuccessful abortion to be allowed to die on the table. In some states it is legal to allow the baby to die after one day even after a normal birth. He said he would work with Democrats to negotiate the details.
As it stands now states can enact any law they want. At least if there was a law at the Federal level limiting some of those most heinous crimes against the unborn it would be a step in the right direction.
“Well it is up to states now”
Do you agree that states should be allowed to legalize abortion up to the date of birth?
Yet again we are all talking about what is the proper conservative view of the abortion issue?
We can all say we oppose abortion, but what do we do specifically within our political system to deal with the issue?
He actually did things. Overturning Roe v Wade being a big one, I’d say.
The rinos sniping and virtue signaling aren’t serious.
2017 they could have defunded Planned Parenthood, but refused.
Sad that any state would then adopt "killing" of babies".
Abortion is 100% loser issue for the GOP. It sucks, but it is true, and Trump knows this.
“As it stands now states can enact any law they want. At least if there was a law at the Federal level limiting some of those most heinous crimes against the unborn it would be a step in the right direction.”
“Anytime he did a deal with Democrats, whether it was on budget, whether it was on the criminal justice ‘First Step Act,’ they ended up taking him to the cleaners, and so, I think if he’s going into this thing, he’s gonna make the Democrats happy with respect to the right to life. I think all pro-lifers should know that he’s preparing to sell you out,” DeSantis said.
All those points in the article are ancient history. Trump has now done a flip flop and thinks states rights are fine except those states with strict abortion policies. Like Florida.
If their voters say so.
I live by Federalism.
“As I understand, you are just making stuff up.”
Nope. Right in the article!
” ... he now prefers to leave the matter up to the states, ... “
We know how that goes as several states have no limits.
It is my understanding that they do have that right since the Roe v Wade was overturned.
I’ve always been a strong supporter of the Pro Life movement. At first when Trump talked about his abortion policy proposal I was ticked off. My daughter, even more conservative than I am, said you’ve got to be realistic. You are never going to put the genie back in the bottle. Work toward “baby steps”. People that are pro Life will never have an abortion, neither will their daughters or their granddaughters. The law isn’t aimed at us, it’s aimed at other women. All we can do now is try to change hearts and minds and be glad of the progress we can make. Trump’s proposal is progress.
Do you think the fed gov should make murder a federal crime? And before you answer keep in mind that a federal statute is much more likely to reflect Massachusetts law than Texas’.
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