Anti-Abortion Groups ‘Deeply Disappointed’ Over New Trump Statement for Not Supporting a Federal Ban
Former President Donald Trump’s latest statement on abortion is receiving mixed responses — including from anti-abortion groups.
On Monday, Trump stated in a four-and-a-half-minute video that while he took responsibility for overturning Roe v. Wade, he thought that the issue should be left up to the states. In praising the Supreme Court Justices who “took it out of the federal hands,” Trump supported state laws over a federal ban on abortion.
Not long after his statement came out, Marjorie Dannenfelser, the president of Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America, released a statement expressing her disappointment:
We are deeply disappointed in President Trump’s position. Unborn children and their mothers deserve national protections and national advocacy from the brutality of the abortion industry. The Dobbs decision clearly allows both states and Congress to act.
Saying the issue is “back to the states” cedes the national debate to the Democrats who are working relentlessly to enact legislation mandating abortion throughout all nine months of pregnancy. If successful, they will wipe out states’ rights.
With lives on the line, SBA Pro-Life America and the pro-life grassroots will work tirelessly to defeat President [Joe Biden] and extreme congressional Democrats.
CNN covered the reactions to Trump’s latest abortion statement, and anchor John Berman asked Pete Seat, former spokesperson for former President George W. Bush, how this would affect Trump among his right-leaning supporters in the general election:
Berman: Does this have any effect with complaints from the right, Pete?
Seat: Well, leave it to Donald Trump to not be eclipsed by anything, including a once-in-a-lifetime celestial event to put this statement out this morning. What really struck me, John, though, in this transcript, is the hard pivot he made to politics and to this election cycle. It really sounds to me like he understands there’s really no middle ground here. There is no way to make both sides happy. So he’s trying to do something to energize Republicans in these states where we’re going to see referendums on abortion. And he has a chance to potentially lose if a lot of Democrats show up to vote.
Berman: I mean, but I guess, Pete, is there anyone on the right less likely to vote for him because he didn’t support a federal ban on abortion?
Seat: No, I mean, the Susan B. Anthony, group needs, they need to do what they have to do, right? This is what their group is all about. It’s about pro-life. It’s about opposing abortion. So they’re going to put this statement out. It’s unsurprising to me that they are not happy with what he had to say. I think in the end, they’re going to vote for him because they know Donald Trump is the best candidate for the issue they care about most.
Berman also asked Democratic strategist Julie Roginsky if Trump not supporting a federal ban might sway undecided, pro-choice voters:
[T]here’s not one pro-choice voter who’s going to read what Donald Trump said today and then say, “Oh, wait a second — now, I think, now this all makes sense to me. Now I’ve seen the light!” I just, it’s, he has not made any, either side happy, which, you know, in typical Donald Trump fashion, you know, his followers will follow him over the cliff wherever he goes. But for anybody who’s undecided, I just don’t see that the statement today makes either side happy.
Watch the video above via CNN.
