Democrats outlined their strategy to tie former President Trump to state-level abortion restrictions following his statement deferring the issue to states.
Trump said he would support states’ rights on abortion bans and restrictions.
Democrats, including Tim Kaine, vowed to hold Trump and Republicans accountable for stripping abortion rights and supporting extreme laws.
“He’s proud that he’s stripped rights away from Americans that they’ve been able to count on for a century,” Kaine said. “He’s fine with states criminalizing women. He’s fine with states giving bounties to those who might report somebody who terminates a pregnancy. Great. You put that out there and we Democrats and Joe Biden and Kamala Harris, we’re gonna say we believe that women’s reproductive freedoms should be protected in this country.”
Some pro-life activists were disappointed that Trump opposed a federal 15-week ban, feeling it could energize Republican voters.
“What he just said was he supports Florida’s six-week ban,” MSNBC’s Joe Scarborough said.
“Insane,” Mika Brzezinski said.
Most recent polls show over 60% of Americans support abortion access.
“There are, again, crazy, extreme laws that have been passed that Donald Trump just said he supports and he salutes,” Scarborough added.
While Trump said he wants to make it easier for mothers, his statement indicates his campaign will focus on criticizing Biden on border security, economic issues and inflation – areas where Trump maintains voter support.
“We want to make it easier for mothers to have babies, not harder. That includes supporting the availability of fertility treatments like IVF in every state in Americans,” Trump added, noting he is “very pleased that the Alabama legislature has acted quickly and passed legislation that preserves the availability of IVF in Alabama.”
“The Republican Party should always be on the side of the miracle of life.”
Democrats will seek to nationalize abortion as a defining issue and link the GOP to state abortion laws.
“We are deeply disappointed in President Trump’s position,” said Marjorie Dannenfelser, Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America president. “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.”
