WASHINGTON — Donald Trump plays down the prospect of nationwide abortion restrictionsfalsely, Republicans sought to leave abortion law up to the states.
“Sending this issue back to the states has been the policy of the Republican Party and Conservatives for over 50 years because of states’ rights and the 10th amendment, and it only happened because of the Justices I proudly nominated and confirmed.” Trump wrote on social media. It was one of many posts and statements in which he made the claim amid a national backlash against the Supreme Court’s decision to end federal abortion rights in 2022. Unpopular Alabama court ruling that embryos are children.
Trump’s latest claim is belied by his party’s long history of fighting to restrict abortion nationwide.
In fact, it would be news to then-President Trump, who in 2018 championed a bill in Congress to criminalize abortion after 20 weeks of pregnancy. in time, ocin its entirety The 20-week ban blocked “important legislation that would protect our most vulnerable people” and said it was “disappointing” that the bill failed to overcome a filibuster in the Senate.
Trump’s apparent shift comes as he seeks to neutralize the issue. He clearly is expressed his fears that it could cost him the election, potentially “handing the Democrats their dreams of the House, the Senate, and possibly the Presidency.” Democrats say Trump is now lying and will sign bills criminalizing abortion if the GOP-led Congress passes them, which he has not ruled out doing.
“MAGA would sign if Republicans put a federal ban on his desk” President Joe Biden phelp In a video on X.
Before the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, abortion rights were protected by the constitution, and Republicans shot blanks with a series of anti-abortion bills, seeking to rally social conservatives without risking a backlash among legal abortion supporters, including many pro-abortionists. swing voters. Now they shoot real bullets. This year’s presidential election will be the first in half a century that voters’ decisions will determine whether abortion is legal.
Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, an outspoken opponent of abortion rights who faces a competitive re-election, said abortion rights are not in jeopardy at the federal level because the 60-vote filibuster rule would give Democrats the power to block it. Anti-abortion bills in Congress.
“At the end of the day, the Senate doesn’t have the votes to pass this or anything like it,” he said. “60 votes are needed to pass a law in the Senate. Zero Democrats will vote for it.”
Top abortion foes say it’s a federal issue
But Republicans also ride on a passionate base of social conservatives who want federal restrictions on abortion.
As prominent abortion rights opponents are quick to point out, the shift toward a states’ rights position on abortion is new for the GOP, which has used its House and Senate majorities for decades to push for nationwide restrictions. The Republican Party has also repeatedly included in its platform abortion restrictions that would apply at the national level.
“Since 1984, the GOP platform has affirmed that the protections of the 14th Amendment extend to unborn babies and affirmed the action of Congress to clarify that fact through legislation,” Marjorie Dannenfelser, president of Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America, told NBC in a statement. . News. “Republicans have led the charge to federally ban barbaric partial-birth abortions, and both chambers have repeatedly voted to restrict painful late-term abortions. The Senate voted on it at the latest in 2020. In January 2023 House Republicans also voted to protect babies born alive during abortion”.
The 2022 decision, Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, “rightfully returned legislative power over abortion to the people and their elected representatives at both the state and federal level,” Dannenfelser said. “Where you live shouldn’t determine whether you live or not.”
During Trump’s presidency, House Republicans voted overwhelmingly in 2017 to pass a bill endorsed by Trump to ban abortions after 20 weeks, which Senate Democrats approved months later. The reason predates Trump: In 2015, the Republican-led House of Representatives passed a 20-week abortion ban that was similarly rejected by Senate Democrats.
Ahead of a landmark Supreme Court decision in 2022, GOP lawmakers have publicly asked the justices to grant legislative authority over abortion. One 2021 amicus briefThe 228 Republicans in Congress told the justices that the Dobbs case “gives the Court a chance to loosen its grip on abortion policy because Congress and the states have shown they are willing and able to take up the issue.” Science.
Justice Kavanaugh said that “the States or Congress” can regulate abortion
The court forced Justice Samuel Alito to write for the five-member conservative majority in 2022 that “the people and their elected representatives” are free to regulate abortion.
“Therefore, we believe that the Constitution does not grant the right to abortion. Roe and Casey should be overturned and the power to regulate abortion returned to the people and their elected representatives,” he wrote. (“Casey” is Planned Parenthood v. Casey, a 1992 Supreme Court decision that upheld Roe v. Wade.)
Justice Brett Kavanaugh was more forthright in his concurring opinion that Congress has a role, writing that the Constitution is “neutral” on abortion and does not prevent Congress from legalizing it.
“This matter will be decided by the people and their representatives in the democratic process in the states or in Congress,” he said.
Missouri Sen. Josh Hawley, who is up for re-election this year, said he continues to support abortion restrictions at the federal level, but voters will always have the final say.
“Let the voters vote on it and talk about it. And discuss. If they want, let them vote again,” Hawley said. “I support a 15-week ban, but it won’t pass.”
The 15-week ban was authored by Senator Lindsey Graham, RSC. continues his defense But have’t reintroduced the bill this session of Congress. As some in the GOP tried to avoid the issue, Graham declined to say when he would next bring it up.
The No. 3 Senate Republican, John Barrasso of Wyoming, who is running for whip next year, said he supported Trump’s position and downplayed the prospects of a Senate vote on the 15-week national ban.
“I don’t expect it to come up for a vote,” Barrasso said in mid-April after Trump proposed making abortion a state issue. “I support the position of the president”
Barrasso sponsored Graham’s 15-week ban in 2021, saying “Congress must protect innocent lives.”