Former President Donald Trump cannot avoid the issue of abortion rights.
Trump undoubtedly wanted to resolve the problem with an almost 4-minute video in which he stated that the future of abortion rights should be decided at the state level. Just a few days later, the Arizona Supreme Court issued a verdict that served as a harsh reminder that relegating the matter to the state level is not a political solution.
On Wednesday, the former president told reporters that the Arizona court had gone too far in ruling that an 1864, pre-Civil War, near-total abortion ban could be imposed.
Fellow Republicans, regardless of whether they had previously backed the ban, hastened to condemn the move, emphasizing the political significance of the occasion.
“Yeah, they did,” Trump replied in response to whether the court had gone too far, “and I think it’ll be straightened out and, as you know, it’s all about state’s rights and it will be straightened out.”
Trump’s evolving views on abortion have alienated some of his long-time allies. Marjorie Dannenfelser, head of Susan B. Pro-Life America, a renowned anti-abortion organization, and Sen. Lindsey Graham, a South Carolina Republican, were disappointed that the former president would not support a national abortion ban. Trump responded by torching them both on social media.
“Many Good Republicans lost Elections because of this Issue, and people like Lindsey Graham, who are unrelenting, are handing Democrats their dream of the House, Senate, and perhaps even the Presidency…,” Trump wrote in response to Graham’s dismay.
The previous president has left a few intriguing questions unanswered.
On Wednesday, Trump answered one of these issues decisively, pledging that if elected president, he would not sign a countrywide abortion ban, even if Congress passed such legislation. It remains unknown how Trump will vote on the matter. As a Florida resident, he will be able to vote on an abortion rights ballot issue in November.
President Joe Biden’s campaign has instantly linked Donald Trump to every development. They have often pointed out that the former president boasted about his role in picking the three US Supreme Court justices who were the determining element in the monumental Roe v. Wade reversal. Biden’s team has also launched several ads that directly address the topic of abortion rights. Vice President Kamala Harris even went to an abortion clinic.
“Elect me,” Biden told reporters at the White House in response to a query about the Arizona decision. “I am in the twenty-first century, not the previous century. They were not even a state.
Following the Arizona decision, Biden’s campaign projected that voters would hold the former president accountable.
“What’s happening in Arizona is only possible because Donald Trump overturned Roe v. Wade—it’s cruel and a direct threat to our health and freedoms,” Jen Cox, Biden-Harris senior advisor for Arizona, told Business Insider. “No one should discount the impact this has on women across our state and — as we saw in 2022 — Democrats, Independents, and Republicans are going to hold Trump accountable.”
Politically, Biden has good reasons to believe he is on stable ground.
Abortion rights advocates have won an unbroken line of triumphs at the state level, either by opposing additional restrictions or expanding abortion access. Multiple polls demonstrate that voters strongly oppose limits.
A KFF study conducted last month indicated that 71% of Germans believe abortion should be legal in all or most instances. It should not be ignored that Biden, who questioned Roe as a young senator, is now vigorously supporting reproductive rights as part of his reelection campaign.
Still, putting abortion on the ballot is unlikely to save the president’s sagging approval rating. According to a Politico investigation, when voters in five states evaluated abortion rights, the deciding difference was mostly attributed to Republican voters who supported other Republican candidates. This November, abortion rights may be directly on the ballots in key battleground states such as Arizona and Nevada.
Trump is not alone in his struggle. Since Roe’s reversal, Republicans as a whole have failed to devise an effective strategy to confront abortion. It doesn’t help that many officials, including the past president, have supported stricter abortion restrictions, even if, for political reasons, they may now try to distance themselves from those remarks.
As the former president noted, conservatives may have to weigh the future of greater abortion restrictions against the risk of losing important races.
“You must follow your heart on this issue, but remember, you must also win elections to restore our culture and, in fact, to save our country, which is currently, and very sadly, a nation in decline,” he stated.