by WorldTribune Staff, April 9, 2024
Former President Donald Trump said limits on abortion should be left to the states.
“Whatever they decide must be the law of the land, in this case, the law of the state,” Trump said on Monday in a video posted to Truth Social. “Many states will be different.”
With the video, Trump wades "into a thorny issue as he tries to bring independents to his side without alienating pro-life voters," Tom Howell Jr. wrote in an April 8 analysis for The Washington Times.
Trump said allowing state legislatures or a direct vote on the ballot would represent the “will of the people.”
Meanwhile, Kamala Harris has been selected to handle the abortion message for Democrats. She is traveling the nation to highlight GOP positions on abortion as an attack on fundamental freedoms.
In his video, Trump said Democrats are the extreme ones, supporting abortion through the full term.
Human Events Editor Jack Posobiec noted in a post to Telegram: "Biden will never release a statement that he opposes late-term abortion. He cannot. He’s a liar and a fake Catholic."
Trump on Monday pushed back against South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham and other conservatives who were critical of his statement.
In a lengthy post on Truth Social, Trump wrote that Graham was “doing a great disservice to the Republican Party, and to our Country” and argued others who publicly favor stricter abortion laws were committing political malpractice.
Trump pointed out that Democrats would never approve of any legislation Graham favors restricting abortion and have benefited politically from the push among conservatives to restrict abortion access following the end of Roe v. Wade.
“They love this Issue, and they want to keep it going for as long as Republicans will allow them to do so,” Trump wrote.
Honor their memory: The ‘shot heard round the world’
The former president went on to criticize Marjorie Dannenfelser, head of Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America, and other “hardliners” over their handling of the issue in the past two years.
“Lindsey, Marjorie, and others fought for years, unsuccessfully, until I came along and got the job done,” Trump wrote. “Then they were gone, never to be heard from again, until now. We cannot let our Country suffer any further damage by losing Elections on an issue that should always have been decided by the States, and now will be!”
Trump said he is in favor of exceptions to limits in case of rape, incest or to save the life of the mother.
“You must follow your heart on this issue but, remember, you must also win elections to restore our culture and, in fact, save our country,” Trump said.
In his statement, Trump stressed the need to keep in vitro fertilization (IVF) treatments for couples who are trying to have a baby.
White House correspondent Simon Ateba,in a LinkedIn post, said Trump must navigate the abortion issue while gaining trust with women voters.
"If history is any indication, men do not usually win elections when most women are against them," Ateba wrote. "The next U.S. elections may not be different."
Ateba continued:
"The Stormy Daniels case next week in New York has nothing to do with Trump not properly documenting a payment to her; it's to show that Trump is somehow against women and abuses them. In plain language, it's not about a porn actress; it's to tell women, 'Can you trust this man?'
"That is the reason they insisted that Stormy Daniels must testify, break down in court, and give materials to the mainstream media to rebroadcast daily."
In most elections where abortion was a top issue, Republicans lost, Ateba pointed out.
"This does not mean that Republicans are wrong on the issue; it may simply mean that their message is not resonating with women, that they have not been able to convince the majority of women that they are right and the Democrats are wrong. ... It's my belief that the E. Jean Carroll case and the Stormy Daniels case, which are both weak cases without solid evidence, are meant to show that Trump personally should not be trusted by women. The abortion messaging is to show that Republicans are against women's rights and against women in general and should not be trusted."
