Trump Shocks Anti-Abortion Groups By Declining To Endorse National Ban, Says ‘Its Up To The States’ 

Former President Donald Trump shook things up by announcing his stance on a nationwide abortion ban, saying abortion should be left to the states and declining to endorse any national limit. 

Trump made the announcement on Truth Social on April 8, backtracking his initial position, projecting the idea of a 15-week ban in early 2024. After celebrating himself for overturning Roe. v. Wade, Trump now thinks the issue of abortion should be “up to the states to do the right thing.” “My view is now that we have abortion where everyone wanted it from a legal standpoint, the states will determine by vote or legislation, or perhaps both,” he said in a lengthy video. 

“And whatever they decide must be the law of the land. In this case, the law of the state. “Many states will be different. Many will have a different number of weeks, or some will [be] more conservative than others, and that’s what they will be. At the end of the day, this is all about the will of the people.”

President of the anti-abortion group Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America, Marjorie Dannenfelser, released a statement shortly after calling his stance “deeply disappointing.” “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,” she wrote. 

“The Dobbs decision clearly allows both states and Congress to act.” 

The issue of reproductive rights has been an up-and-down battle for Republicans since the Supreme Court overturned the ruling in 2022. In early 2024, the Alabama Supreme Court ruled that frozen embryos are children, causing backlash and leaving GOP leaders scrambling for politically acceptable responses. Trump started his message by celebrating the GOP-controlled legislature for approving a bill that protects IVF — putting the candidate more at odds with the anti-abortion movement.

Democrats have been playing offense on abortion, with abortion rights advocates supporting successful campaigns to implement abortion rights into the state constitutions in several red-leaning states like Ohio and Florida. 

In early April 2024, the Sunshine State’s high court issued two blockbuster rulings on access to abortion. According to The Hill, one ruling upheld the state’s 15-week abortion ban, allowing a ban after six weeks of pregnancy to go into effect in May 2024. The other ruling granted permission to a measure that would protect access to abortion in the state if passed in November.

Following the news, President Joe Biden’s reelection campaign released a memo saying Florida will be a target to flip in the upcoming presidential election. 

But he may be in for a fight with Dannenfelser’s group. She vowed that  her group “will work tirelessly to defeat Biden and extreme congressional Democrats.” “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,” Dannenfelser said. 

“If successful, they will wipe out states’ rights.”

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