Leading pro-life group fiercely denounces Trump’s position on abortion: ‘Cedes the national debate to the Democrats’
Former President Donald Trump has finally revealed his position on abortion.
In a video message released on Monday, Trump said the issue of abortion will be left up to the states if he returns to the White House next year.
“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. And whatever they decide must be the law of the land. In this case, the law of the state,” Trump said.
“Many states will be different. Many will have a different number of weeks, or some will have more conservative than others, and that’s what they will be,” he added. “At the end of the day, it’s all about will of the people. That’s where we are right now and that’s what we want — the will of the people.”
Trump, on the other hand, did not say if he would sign a national ban on abortion.
From the standpoint of constitutional law, Trump’s position makes sense.
Abortion “rights,” after all, are not found in the Constitution, and the 10th Amendment reserves to the states and people the powers “not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the states.”
But a leading pro-life group, Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America, found Trump’s position to be wanting.
“We are deeply disappointed in President Trump’s position,” said Marjorie Dannenfelser, president of SBA Pro-Life America.
“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,” she explained. “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.”
One of the problems with leaving the issue up to states is that abortion up to the moment of birth might be legal in multiple states.
Seven states — Alaska, Colorado, Minnesota, New Jersey, New Mexico, Oregon, Vermont, plus Washington, D.C. — have no gestational limit on abortion. And while late-term abortions are rare, the lack of restrictions raises the question: What legal recourse is there to stop a mother from aborting her more-than-viable unborn child?
Leaving the issue up to the states also avoids the question: What about the life of the unborn child?
That Trump’s position does not answer that question is why Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) said that he disagrees with Trump.
“I respectfully disagree with President Trump’s statement that abortion is a states’ rights issue,” Graham said. “Dobbs does not require that conclusion legally, and the pro-life movement has always been about the well-being of the unborn child — not geography.”
Graham, moreover, predicted that leaving abortion up to the states “will age about as well as the Dred Scott decision,” referring to an 1857 Supreme Court case that ruled African-Americans were not U.S. citizens.
That ruling was rendered moot in just 11 years with the passing of the 14th Amendment.
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