Former President Trump’s opposition to Arizona’s strict abortion ban has put him at odds with pro-life and Christian activists who represent key voters in the presidential race.
President Trump’s campaign issued a statement last week saying states should decide how to regulate abortion. That position was put to the test a few days later, when the Arizona Supreme Court ruled that an 1864 law banning abortion without exception for rape or incest should be enforced.
President Trump, who claims to be the most pro-life president in U.S. history, said the court’s decision “went too far” and called on lawmakers to “act immediately to right what happened.” He said that “ideally” anti-abortion laws should include exceptions for rape, incest and the life of the mother. Among other comments, he expressed his confidence that Arizona law will be “tightened.”
That message didn’t sit well with Abby Johnson, a former Planned Parenthood director turned pro-life activist who leads the group “And Then There Were None.”
President Trump says Arizona’s pro-life law is a U-turn on the Biden campaign’s advocacy policy and says it has gone ‘too far’
Abby Johnson, CEO of And Then There Were None, speaks at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) held at a hotel in Mexico City, Mexico, on November 19, 2022. In an interview with Fox News Digital, Johnson said former President Donald Trump risks alienating people. Support pro-life voters by opposing state bans on abortion, with no exceptions for rape or incest. (Reuters/Luis Cortes)
“What I heard was [Trump] In an interview with Fox News Digital, Johnson said there was a contradiction between President Trump’s position that states should decide for themselves and his statement that Arizona “went too far.”
“So a state says they’re going to ban abortion, and now he’s saying, ‘No, I don’t want you to do that,'” Johnson said. “That shows he doesn’t want to ban it at the federal level. But he also doesn’t believe that states should have the right to ban it at the state level.”
It was a disappointing development for Johnson, who spoke at the 2020 Republican National Convention in support of President Trump’s re-election. She said in her speech that President Trump “has done more for unborn children than any other president.” She was instrumental in reinstating the Mexico City Policy (which critics refer to as the “global gag rule”), which blocked U.S. federal funding to nongovernmental organizations that support abortion services, and in the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn it. He pointed out some of his accomplishments, including the appointment of Roe v. Wade will happen in 2022, allowing states to restrict abortion.
In fact, Trump regularly took credit for documenting his pro-life activities during his campaign. But he also repeatedly criticized Republican lawmakers for taking hard stances on the issue, saying the party’s retreat was not allowing exceptions in cases of rape, incest or where the life of a pregnant person is at risk. Blaming the candidate. 2022 midterm elections.
“A lot of pro-life politicians lose elections because they don’t know how to discuss this issue. We lose a lot of elections because of this. They didn’t know how to discuss this issue. They didn’t think anything of it,” he said at the Concerned Women of America Leadership Summit last year.
The Trump campaign did not respond to requests for comment.
President Trump says abortion should be a national decision based on “the will of the people”
Former US President Donald Trump during an election event on Tuesday, April 2, 2024 in Green Bay, Wisconsin, USA. Trump released a statement on abortion rights on April 8, saying states should have the freedom to determine their own abortion restrictions. (Daniel Steinle/Getty Images)
The pro-life cause has suffered several defeats in voting campaigns to protect abortion rights, even in red states like Ohio and Kansas. Similar initiatives are underway in states such as Arizona and Florida, and are expected to increase turnout in the November election.
William Wolf, a former Trump official who worked at the State Department and the Pentagon, said the defeat shows that “American culture still loves abortion or deeply misunderstands what’s going on with abortion.” He said it shows.
Mr. Wolf is the executive director of the Center for Baptist Leadership (CBL), a newly formed nonprofit organization that exists to revitalize the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC), the largest Protestant Christian denomination in America. The group does not endorse or support political candidates, but issued a statement last week condemning President Trump’s position on abortion and calling on him to “abandon the advice of compromising political consultants.”
Demonstrators during the Women’s March rally in Phoenix, Arizona, USA on Saturday, January 20, 2024. Pro-choice advocates denounced the state Supreme Court’s ruling, which said an 1864 law banning most abortions could go into effect. (Caitlin O’Hara/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
In an interview, Wolf described Arizona’s anti-abortion law as “a great law” and said he was “unapologetic about how abortion ends an innocent life” and “should be recognized as murder.” He encouraged President Trump to have a “moral discussion.”
“Evangelicals and Southern Baptists are eager to support candidates who demonstrate unflinching courage and make a moral case against the civilized suicide of abortion. We encourage you to stand firm against your problems and run toward them instead of running away, because we know that: Human life is precious. They should be protected from the moment of fertilization until their natural death,” he said.
Arizona Supreme Court upholds near-total abortion ban
Walker Wildmon, vice president and spokesperson for the American Family Association, said the Arizona Supreme Court’s decision is a valid one that recognizes the pro-life position that life should be protected from conception to natural death. He said that.
While praising Trump’s accomplishments, Wildmon said the former president’s recent comments are “out of step with the party and the pro-life movement as a whole.”
“Just as slavery was a stain on our country, abortion is a stain on our country. So, in our view, any abortion is a stain on our country because we believe that all life begins at conception. There are too many,” he said.
Wildmon warned that Trump risks alienating significant numbers of evangelical Christian voters by trying to appeal to independents and suburban women by weakening his pro-life stance.
“The reality is that many voters won’t support you if you wiggle and fidget on the abortion issue,” he said. “It’s really going to suppress the vote of evangelical Christians. Evangelical Christians are already there, and they’re a big voting bloc within the Republican Party, and they’re going to have a lot of trouble with President Trump and how he’s handling things. I have concerns about self-control.”
He added that President Trump “needs to move to the right on this issue” in order to solidify his supporters ahead of a general election showdown with President Biden.
Bill Maher Skewers Trump on Republican policy on abortion: “Is it OK to kill babies in some states?”
While Republicans have divided their positions on the issue, Democrats have sought to portray President Trump as uniquely responsible for disenfranchising women.
“Here in Arizona, we have turned back the clock on women’s rights and freedoms for more than a century. Mr. Roe’s ouster was a shocking event, and this ban in Arizona is the first of its kind to date. This is one of the biggest aftershocks,” Vice President Kamala Harris said in a speech. Campaign event held in Tucson on Friday.
She called President Trump the “architect of this health care crisis” and argued that a second term for Trump would mean “more bans, more suffering, less freedom.”
Arizona Governor Katie Hobbs gives a short speech prior to President Joe Biden’s remarks at the Tempe Center for the Arts on September 28, 2023 in Tempe, Arizona. Mr. Hobbs called on the Arizona Legislature to repeal Prohibition of 1864. (Rebecca Noble/Getty Images)
Brian Birch, president of Catholic Vote, said President Trump appears to be mindful that sweeping laws restricting access to abortion could make his re-election difficult. He and other pro-life activists interviewed for this article emphasized that President Trump remains the best alternative to President Biden for pro-life voters in the upcoming election.
“President Trump may be taking the position that states shouldn’t go that far under the circumstances, and he’s certainly entitled to that position. I don’t think he’s wrong about that. “I believe that, but that’s a far cry from Joe Biden, who says he’s willing to impose a taxpayer-funded abortion system on the country at any stage and for any reason.” ,” Birch told FOX News Digital.
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Still, Johnson said many pro-life activists she’s met have told her they lost votes over President Trump’s criticism of Arizona’s law and Florida’s six-week abortion ban. “That doesn’t mean they’re going to vote for Biden, but they’re not going to vote for Trump,” she told FOX News Digital.
“I think for some pro-life supporters, just saying you’re pro-life is no longer enough,” Johnson added. “So I think there’s a lot of people who are waiting to see, and I’m one of those who are waiting to see if Trump is going to right this ship, but I think Trump needs to be very careful. ” How he moves forward between now and the election. ”
Fox News Digital’s Paul Steinhauser and Anders Hagstrom contributed to this report.
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