Donald Trump has just decided his position on abortion. “And that could cost him dear electorally,” reports the American daily New York Times. In a video published this Monday, April 8, the Republican candidate for the White House said he was against a federal ban on voluntary termination of pregnancy (abortion) in the United States. However, he said he wanted to give American states a free hand to legislate on abortion, cautiously renouncing a nationwide ban.
“States will determine by vote or by law, or perhaps both. Whatever their decision, it must have the force of law,” he said in a video published on his Truth Social platform, after months of back and forth on the subject.
“Disappointed” conservatives
Candidate again in November against Democrat Joe Biden, Donald Trump himself prides himself on having, through his appointments of judges to the Supreme Court of the United States, resulted in the reversal of jurisprudence of June 2022 which canceled the federal guarantee of the right to abortion. Since this decision giving the 50 States full latitude to legislate in this area, around twenty have banned or severely restricted access to abortion.
But, according to the Wall Street Journal“these measures did not make it possible to significantly reduce the number of interventions [car les femmes enceintes peuvent toujours se rendre dans un Etat où l’avortement reste légal, NDLR]which pushes anti-abortion groups to demand national measures, deemed more effective in limiting access to abortion”. Statements which “disappointed conservatives who were hoping for more restrictive measures at the national level”, comments THE New York Timess reporting testimonies. The anti-abortion association Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life, for its part, expressed its “deep disappointment”. While Donald Trump’s former vice-president, the very religious Mike Pence, described the billionaire’s statements as a “slap in the face” to the millions of abortion opponents who voted for him in 2016 and 2020.
In the same video, Donald Trump also accused Democrats of being in favor of abortion until the last months of pregnancy, and “even execution after birth.” An unfounded assertion.
“We also have to win the election”
Abortion has been a battleground of the conservative movement for several decades, but its ban has proven greatly unpopular with the general American public in several recent elections. Since the Supreme Court’s 2022 decision, conservatives have lost every referendum or ballot measure addressing the issue of abortion.
The games of the Republican primary having already been decided in his favor, Donald Trump no longer needs to specifically address the conservative electorate. He must now speak to all Americans and convince moderate voters, to have a chance of winning against Joe Biden on November 5. He also says it himself in his video to try to explain himself to his base: “Certainly, on this subject [l’avortement]you have to listen to your heart, but remember that you also have to win the election to restore our culture and, in fact, to save our country, which is currently and unfortunately a nation in decline.”
In a press release, President and Democratic candidate Joe Biden assured that he did not believe the statements of his Republican opponent. “If Donald Trump is elected and the Trumpists in Congress put a federal abortion ban on his desk, Trump will approve it,” he said.