Trump’s Altering Messages on Abortion, in 670 Quotes

When he first ran for president, Donald J. Trump talked repeatedly about his opposition to abortion. “I’m pro-life, and I used to be initially pro-choice,” he stated in 2016. One other time that yr, he stated, “I’m pro-life, and I will probably be appointing pro-life judges.” In whole in 2016, in line with a New York Occasions evaluation, he described himself as “pro-life” 36 occasions:

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On this marketing campaign, although, he infrequently makes use of the time period. This yr, he has described himself as “pro-life” as soon as:

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Throughout his re-election marketing campaign in 2020, Mr. Trump usually spoke of his assist for a federal ban on abortions after 20 weeks of being pregnant. In whole, earlier than the Supreme Courtroom determination that ended the nationwide proper to abortion in 2022, he expressed his assist for a federal ban 50 occasions:

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For the reason that court docket’s determination, Dobbs v. Jackson, which allowed particular person states to ban abortion, he has expressed assist for a federal ban solely as soon as

, saying, “It may very well be a state ban, it may very well be a federal ban.”

Extra usually, he has stated the precise reverse, that he opposes a federal ban. For the reason that court docket’s determination, he has stated that 11 occasions:

. “I’m not signing a ban, and there’s no purpose to signal a ban”; “There is not going to be a federal ban”; “I’m not signing a nationwide abortion invoice.”

We checked out all of the statements Mr. Trump has made about abortion since he first ran for president, in speeches, interviews and posts on-line, that had been cataloged by Roll Name Factba.se. We categorized 670 of them primarily based on the phrases he used. The evaluation reveals how his messaging over the past decade has modified with the political second — and the way this yr he has tried to distance himself from the core beliefs of the anti-abortion motion.

There isn’t any proof that Mr. Trump’s stance on abortion has modified. As president, he did extra to limit abortion rights in the USA than every other president, together with by appointing three of the six Supreme Courtroom justices who overturned Roe v. Wade. As just lately because the September debate, he took credit score, saying, “I did an important service in doing it.”

Because it turned clear that the Dobbs determination was hurting some Republican candidates, nevertheless, he modified his messaging, generally straight contradicting himself. He stated as a lot in April, when he launched a video on Fact Social emphasizing that Republicans wanted to speak about abortion in a means that might enchantment to voters: “You should observe your coronary heart on this challenge. However keep in mind, you have to additionally win elections.”

Karoline Leavitt, the Trump marketing campaign’s nationwide press secretary, stated that Mr. Trump had been constant in his stance on abortion, and that he had all the time supported the rights of states to make selections on abortion rights.

Mr. Trump’s ambiguous and even contradictory statements can permit voters to listen to whichever message they need to hear, political analysts stated.

Jason Rapert, founder and president of the Nationwide Affiliation of Christian Lawmakers, which helps a nationwide abortion ban, stated, “I believe we must always keep in mind the Donald Trump of 2016, and what he was saying from his coronary heart, and he made good on these coverage selections.”

Mr. Rapert stated he was “extraordinarily upset” to listen to Mr. Trump say he didn’t assist a federal abortion ban. However he doesn’t essentially imagine him, he stated: “I spotted that he actually is delivering messaging that got here from lots of the consultants round him.”

Celinda Lake, a Democratic pollster, stated Mr. Trump was giving combined messages as a result of he was making an attempt to carry onto the assist of evangelical voters whereas additionally making an attempt to win again moderates who’ve turned towards him due to his function in overturning Roe.

“It’s a profitable technique with evangelicals — you by no means hear born-again Christians are defecting; they’re not,” Ms. Lake stated. “It’s been a loss with suburban girls, with youthful girls, with the average Republican girls who now name themselves independents, and he’s been making an attempt to determine a option to get them again.”

In her polling and focus teams, she stated, many citizens have by no means actually believed that Mr. Trump opposes abortion. His latest rhetoric “simply reinforces that his coronary heart’s not likely in it, he doesn’t actually imagine this,” she stated. “However alternatively, the MAGA celebration does imagine in it, and his political calculations are such that he did Dobbs and he’ll proceed to do extra.”

Trump’s evolution

Earlier than he turned a nationwide political determine, Mr. Trump had described himself as “very pro-choice,” so in his preliminary run for president as a Republican, he repeatedly emphasised that he had deserted that place.

Mr. Trump was courting the evangelical wing of the Republican Celebration, whose votes he wanted. He promised to nominate “pro-life judges” to the Supreme Courtroom. He made abortion restrictions a staple of his 2016 marketing campaign, talking usually about how necessary the difficulty was.

After he was elected, Mr. Trump stored a lot of his guarantees to the anti-abortion motion. He enacted a number of regulatory insurance policies that restricted funding for abortion and organizations that supported it. He appointed three justices to the Supreme Courtroom from an inventory of candidates pre-approved by the anti-abortion motion.

As he approached his re-election marketing campaign, he supported a invoice in Congress that might have banned abortions nationwide after 20 weeks of being pregnant. The invoice was a significant theme of marketing campaign rallies, and was featured in his 2020 State of the Union deal with and a speech that yr on the March for Life, the anti-abortion motion’s greatest annual occasion. He was the primary sitting president to talk there.

He referred to as on Congress to “defend the dignity of life and to go laws prohibiting late-term abortion of kids who can really feel ache of their mom’s womb.”

After the Dobbs determination overturning the correct to abortion in 2022, Mr. Trump usually celebrated his function in it: “If you happen to take a look at what we’ve carried out with Roe v. Wade, we did one thing that everybody stated couldn’t be carried out, and we bought it carried out.”

On the presidential debate with Vice President Kamala Harris in September, he once more praised Dobbs, and “the genius and coronary heart and power” of the Supreme Courtroom justices who supported it.

Later that month, he extolled his file on the difficulty: “I’ve carried out an unbelievable job on the abortion query.”

He usually stated that every one Individuals or “all authorized students” supported the court docket’s determination to overturn Roe, regardless of polling majorities and quite a few authorized briefs that opposed it.

Throughout this marketing campaign, although, he has despatched combined messages. At first, he stated he would assist a Florida measure increasing abortion entry, then stated he wouldn’t. He stated he wouldn’t limit entry to abortion drugs, then stated he was open to it.

He has additionally just lately repeated his assist for exceptions to abortion bans for ladies who’re victims of rape or incest, or whose lives are threatened by their pregnancies. These statements considerably battle together with his embrace of state-based approaches to abortion coverage, since many states with abortion bans should not have these exceptions.

Melania Trump, the previous first girl, printed a ebook this month through which she stated she supported abortion rights, a shock that some political analysts stated was a calculated transfer to enchantment to extra average voters.

For a lot of this marketing campaign, Mr. Trump declined to say whether or not he would veto a federal abortion ban.

Then, in latest weeks, he modified course once more, saying that he would veto a federal ban, in direct opposition to the objectives of the anti-abortion motion. He stated in a web based message earlier this month: “Everybody is aware of I’d not assist a federal abortion ban, below any circumstances, and would, in truth, veto it, as a result of it’s as much as the states to resolve primarily based on the desire of their voters.”

In any other case, Mr. Trump isn’t speaking a lot about how he would deal with abortion coverage from the manager department. No matter who wins the election, main federal laws on the subject is unlikely to go Congress within the subsequent few years.

As a substitute, he has begun saying abortion isn’t an necessary challenge: “The nation’s falling aside,” he stated just lately. “We’re going to finish up in World Struggle III, and all they will discuss is abortion. That’s all they discuss. And it actually not pertains as a result of we’ve carried out one thing on abortion that no person thought was doable.”

However the president nonetheless has main affect on abortion entry nationwide, by means of laws and government actions. In Mr. Trump’s final administration, he lower federal funding to Deliberate Parenthood for contraceptive companies. He appointed quite a few federal judges who oppose abortion rights. If elected once more, he might additionally use the Meals and Drug Administration or the Justice Division to ban or limit the mailing of abortion drugs, which have contributed to elevated abortion entry since Dobbs.

“I do know he’s steering clear with solely days left till the election,” stated Mr. Rapert of the Nationwide Affiliation of Christian Lawmakers, “however clearly the federal authorities can do extra.”

The entire checklist of Trump’s statements on abortion

Here’s a checklist of Mr. Trump’s statements on abortion since 2015, organized by subject.