What happened?

  • Former President Donald Trump said abortion limits should be left to the states and has avoided endorsing a national abortion ban. [apnews.com, newsweek.com]
  • Trump delivered a conservative majority U.S. Supreme Court that overturned Roe v. Wade, a long-standing goal of the anti-abortion movement, but he has not supported a federal abortion ban. [apnews.com]
  • Trump articulated his support for three exceptions to abortion limits: in cases of rape, incest, and when the life of the mother is at risk. [apnews.com]
  • Abortion has proven an electorally troublesome issue for the Republicans since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in June 2022, and Trump is under pressure to neutralize its impact before the presidential election. [newsweek.com]
  • Leaving abortion laws to individual states is especially popular among Republicans and older voters, with just over half of Americans who voted for Trump in 2020 backing the idea. [newsweek.com]

What is Conservative media saying?

  • Former Vice President Mike Pence criticized former President Trump’s announcement on abortion, calling it a “retreat on the Right to Life” and “a slap in the face to the millions of pro-life Americans”. [foxnews.com]
  • Conservative groups backing Trump in his re-election bid expressed “deep disappointment” with his official position on abortion, but said it won’t deter their support in November. [foxnews.com]
  • Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., claimed that the states’ rights runs contrary to an American consensus that would limit late-term abortions. [foxnews.com]
  • Marjorie Dannenfelser, president of Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America, said while they are “deeply disappointed” in Trump’s position, and that the group will “work tirelessly to defeat President Biden and extreme congressional Democrats.” [foxnews.com]
  • Rep. Greg Murphy, R-N.C., co-chair of the GOP Doctors Caucus, said he agrees with Trump.

What is Liberal media saying?

  • Donald Trump’s stance on abortion rights evolved over the years, from being “very pro-choice” in 1999 to vowing to install conservative justices who would overturn Roe v. Wade, which they did in 2022. [cnn.com, nytimes.com, washingtonpost.com]
  • Many Republican candidates in the 2022 midterms took the approach of leaving abortion decisions to the states, even though the federal government can act on the issue. Trump had previously suggested he could support a 15-week federal ban with exceptions. [cnn.com, nytimes.com, nbcnews.com]
  • Republican candidates who took the “leave it to the states” approach, such as Mehmet Oz, Don Bolduc, and Adam Laxalt, lost their Senate races in key battleground states, while Republican Senator Ron Johnson who took the same approach won re-election in Wisconsin. [nbcnews.com]
  • Trump blamed Republican shortcomings in the midterms on the “abortion issue,” which he said was “poorly handled by many Republicans, especially those that firmly insisted on no exceptions.” [nbcnews.com, cnn.com, nytimes.com]
  • In the run-up to the 2022 midterms, Republican lawmakers and strategists conspired to get a 15-week national ban with exceptions introduced in Congress, as a way to offer a lifeline for candidates being tied to strict state-level proposals. [nbcnews.com, cnn.com, nytimes.com]
  • Trump’s abortion statement left unanswered questions, such as whether he would sign a federal abortion ban as president, or whether he would protect residents who travel to other states to get abortions. [nbcnews.com, nytimes.com]

Media sources:

  • Fox News
  • New York Post
  • Associated Press
  • Newsweek
  • CNN
  • The New York Times
  • The Washington Post
  • NBC News