Trump tests waters on 15-week abortion ban 

Former President Trump has teased an announcement about a federal ban on abortion if he is re-elected, and has come under fire from Democrats who see it as an issue that will galvanize voters.

Trump, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, said on Fox News on Sunday that he would make a decision on the abortion proposal “soon.” On Tuesday, he suggested he was considering supporting a 15-week ban, although he suggested it could “bring the country together” on the deeply polarizing issue.

“As far as the number of weeks, right now, people agree on 15 weeks. I’m thinking with that in mind, and I think it’s going to be a very reasonable number of weeks,” Trump said on his New York-based radio show. he said. “But people actually agree, even the hardliners… 15 weeks seems to be a number that people agree on. But we’ll make an announcement at the appropriate time.”

The comments are the latest example of President Trump touting his support for a national abortion ban, slamming the former president on the issue and making the issue central to his 2024 presidential campaign. It sparked a new wave of attacks from Democrats.

“Republicans themselves are banning abortion,” said Democratic strategist Christy Setzer. “they again, [in vitro fertilization] And even contraception, all of these issues are highly motivating for Democrats, independents, and even some Republicans who oppose it. ”

Setzer predicted the issue would help candidates like Sen. Jon Tester (D-Mont.), who “need a committed base of support” in what is shaping up to be a close re-election campaign.

“When Republicans talk about plans to restrict women’s health, I think of that children’s book: ‘Please don’t throw me into the thorn fields!'” Mentioned the use of psychology.

Still, she predicted Trump would “try to have it both ways” on abortion. “He knows this issue is a political loser for Republicans, but he can’t anger the evangelical community or his friends on the Supreme Court and the ship has sailed anyway.”

The Biden campaign released a statement on Wednesday about Amanda Zulawski, who contracted a life-threatening infection after doctors in Texas refused to perform an abortion at 18 weeks pregnant.

“Trump is not ‘signaling’ anything, ‘indicating’ anything, or ‘leaning’ towards anything. He wants to ban abortion nationwide if elected. “They are actively planning to inflict the same cruelty and chaos on the entire country that I experienced,” she said. “We cannot allow something like that to happen.”

Since the Supreme Court’s conservative majority (including three Trump appointees) overturned Roe v. Wade in June 2022, Democrats have ridden a wave of electoral momentum that has pushed Republican-led states to move toward abortion. paved the way to restrict access to

Democrats exceeded expectations in the midterm elections, winning both chambers of Congress in Virginia and the Kentucky governor’s mansion in 2023, and voting in favor of abortion rights referendums in Kansas and Ohio. In Virginia, Governor Glenn Youngkin and Republican lawmakers tried unsuccessfully to rally voters behind a 15-week abortion ban.

Over the past year, President Trump has repeatedly avoided answering whether he would sign a nationwide abortion ban if reelected. He blamed the party’s messaging on abortion as a cause of the party’s electoral battles in the 2022 midterm elections, calling Florida’s law restricting abortions after six weeks of pregnancy a “terrible mistake.”

He has largely brushed off pressure from outside groups that publicly support abortion bans, arguing that winning elections is more important to enact anti-abortion policies supported by Republicans. Evangelical voters didn’t fault Trump for not taking a harder line, as he swept the Iowa caucuses and won the Republican primary, losing only Washington, D.C., and Vermont.

But Republican officials have argued since the 2022 midterm elections that the party’s candidates need to recalibrate their messaging on abortion to put Democrats on the defensive.

“To me, there seems to be a consensus that 15 weeks isn’t necessarily a terrible period,” said Republican strategist Sharmichael Singleton. Last year’s Gallup poll In the survey, 69 percent of voters said abortion within the first three months of pregnancy should be legal.

“The question for Republicans is how to get that message across. How do they overcome the challenges posed by Democrats’ consistent and persistent message that Republicans have been fiercely opposed to reproductive rights?”

Singleton added that Trump “may be testing the issue.”

“How will people respond? And only time will tell,” he said. Still, Singleton added, “I’m a little nervous because I don’t think Republicans did a good job of getting their message across on this.”

Some anti-abortion groups downplay the importance of supporting a ban after a certain number of weeks, noting that such a bill is unlikely to pass in a narrowly divided Congress. Rather, these groups argue that the policies that a conservative government can enact are more important.

“What we know from President Trump is that he installed the strongest pro-life administration in history and enacted the strongest pro-life policies in history. So this means that President Trump immediately addressed these issues. I believe it’s a good sign of how we’re going to handle it,” former Trump administration health official Roger Severino told The Hill last month.

Kellyanne Conway, who served as Trump’s chief of staff during President Trump’s first term, said last week that while Republicans advocate consensus positions on abortion, such as the “federal minimum” of 15 weeks, rape, incest, He said there should be support for exceptions in cases such as incest. mother’s life. President Trump has said he supports such exceptions.

“I’m very realistic about this,” Conway told Politico’s Health Summit. “I think we should show compassion. I think we should reflect the consensus, and that also requires concessions.”