Presumptive GOP presidential nominee also defends use of harsh language regarding immigrants
By Alex Leary, Wall Street Journal, March 17, 2024
WASHINGTON—Presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump said he would make a decision soon on where he stands on federal abortion limits, aiming for a middle ground that would protect access earlier in a pregnancy but bar later procedures for women nationwide.
In a Fox News interview that aired Sunday, he also defended his use of harsh, dehumanizing language for migrants who cross the border illegally.
On abortion, Trump is staking out a position on a contentious issue that has been blamed for weaker-than-expected performances by Republicans in recent elections, as Democrats rallied to the polls to protect abortion access in the wake of a 2022 Supreme Court ruling that ended the right to the procedure.
Trump was asked in the Fox News interview about a New York Times report that he was settling on a ban after 16 weeks of pregnancy and whether that would be politically acceptable.
“We’re going to find out and pretty soon I’m going to be making a decision,” Trump said, without confirming that specific number. “I would like to see if we could make both sides happy.”
Trump said he believes in exceptions for rape and incest and to save the life of the mother. “You have to go with the exceptions. And the number of weeks, I’ll be coming up with a recommendation fairly soon. I think the recommendation will be accepted,” he said.
The Supreme Court’s ruling overturning Roe v. Wade kick-started a wide-open debate about abortion laws, both at the state and federal level. Some states have backed near-total bans on the procedure, while others have set limits after a certain number of weeks of pregnancy. Other states have passed laws preserving broader access to the procedure, up through around 24 weeks.
The former president has taken credit for the ruling overturning Roe v. Wade—he put three conservative justices on the high court during his administration. But he has also criticized some state laws, including a six-week ban in Florida, as harsh, and said Republicans need to find a way to talk about the issue and must allow for exceptions.
“You have to go with your heart. But beyond that, you also have to get elected,” Trump said Sunday, reflecting past comments he has made, some privately, about the harm the issue has done to the GOP at the polls.
“You have to go with your heart. But beyond that, you also have to get elected,” Trump said Sunday, reflecting past comments he has made, some privately, about the harm the issue has done to the GOP at the polls.
Trump on Sunday said Democrats are “radicals” on the issue for resisting setting a number of weeks in pregnancy at which the procedure should be banned.
Democrats have harnessed the issue in recent elections and state referendums. President Biden, the presumptive Democratic nominee, has made it a centerpiece of his 2024 campaign, calling for nationwide abortion access, including through medicated abortion such as with mifepristone, which can be used to end a pregnancy through 10 weeks of gestation.
Abortion-rights activists and counter protesters outside the Supreme Court on the first anniversary of the court overturning Roe v Wade. PHOTO: ELIZABETH FRANTZ/REUTERS
The Supreme Court, meanwhile, will hear a high-stakes case later this month that has the potential to make the abortion pill more difficult to obtain, an issue that cuts to the heart of abortion access in conservative and liberal states alike.
Later Sunday the Biden campaign issued a statement from Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D., Mass.). “Trump said we’re going to find out if the country will accept his plans for a national abortion ban, and he’s right,” she said. Americans will reject Trump and send President Biden back to the White House, she said.
Before he ran for president in 2016, Trump had supported broad abortion access before taking a more conservative stance. “I’m pro-life, and I was originally pro-choice,” he said during his first campaign. “I have evolved.”
Trump recently came out in favor of in vitro fertilization following a ruling by an all-Republican Alabama court casting doubt on the legality of the procedure in the post-Roe world.
Trump’s often harsh rhetoric on other subjects, including immigration, have also gained more attention.
Fox News host Howard Kurtz asked Trump on Sunday about saying immigrants are “poisoning the blood” of America. Trump defended his language, saying criminals are entering the country illegally with drugs that harm Americans or end up committing violent crimes.
Told critics have said such rhetoric echoes that of Adolf Hitler, Trump said, “I didn’t know that, but that’s what they say.” But he doubled down on what he said was the danger posed by some illegal immigrants. “Our country is being poisoned.”
Trump has also referred to domestic political opponents as “vermin.”
During a rally in Dayton, Ohio, on Saturday, Trump leaned heavily into immigration. “I don’t know if you call them people—in some cases they’re not people, in my opinion,” he said. “But I’m not allowed to say that because the radical left says that’s a terrible thing to say.”
Later Trump added, “These are animals, OK?” he said. “And we have to stop it.”
Trump on Sunday also defended his controversial suggestion that he would encourage Russia to attack NATO nations that fall short on defense-spending goals. “It sounds like somebody that wants to get people to pay money,” he said, referring to his longtime complaint that member nations aren’t spending enough on defense.
This article first appeared HERE.