Republican presidential nominee and former US President Donald Trump dances on the stage during the 2024 Joyful Warriors National Summit on 30 August 2024, in Washington, DC. Trump continues to campaign for the upcoming presidential election on 5 November 2024. (Alex Wong/Getty Images/AFP)
- Donald Trump sought to mitigate backlash from his conservative base over his shifting stance on reproductive rights.
- Particularly concerning his support for in vitro fertilization (IVF) access and criticism of Florida’s strict six-week abortion ban.
- His remarks have prompted criticism from the Right, with concerns that his positions could alienate pro-life voters.
Republican White House nominee Donald Trump sought Friday to
contain the blast radius of a fierce backlash over his remarks publicly backing
away from right-wing positions on reproductive rights.
The ex-president has been under fire from conservatives over
an announcement that in a second term he would ensure free in vitro
fertilization (IVF) – an expensive fertility procedure that many in the
anti-abortion movement want to see curbed.
The rift widened as he hit out at his home state, Florida’s
six-week abortion ban, calling it too restrictive and suggesting he planned to
vote for an upcoming ballot measure that would make the procedure legal until a
fetus becomes viable.
Trump, 78, walked back the comment ahead of a rally in the
battleground state of Pennsylvania on Friday, telling Fox News that “I
will be voting no.”
But conservatives had already begun criticising Trump’s
ever-shifting positions on abortion, with a new Republican policy platform
dropping calls for a national ban and the tycoon’s recent claim that his
government would be “great” for reproductive rights.
The pushback from anti-abortion groups on his latest remarks
was swift, with activists warning that he risks alienating his base.
Evangelical theologian Albert Mohler said Trump’s positions
appeared “almost calculated to alienate pro-life voters” while
conservative commentator Erick Erickson posted that Trump’s abortion stance
“will be a bridge too far for too many.”
Trump’s rally, in Johnstown, was notable for the absence of
any remarks on reproductive rights, despite Thursday’s big IVF announcement.
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The campaign of Democratic candidate Kamala Harris was happy
to weigh in on the issue, smelling blood in the water.
“The majority of Americans support abortion access,
they support IVF, they support contraception,” Mini Timmaraju, of the
Reproductive Freedom for All lobby group, told reporters in a campaign call.
“(Trump) has finally figured it out, and he’ll do
anything to distract from his abysmal, horrifying record on this issue.”
‘He is pro-life’
Trump has been all over the map on abortion in the last 15
years, initially describing himself as “pro-choice” before calling
for “some form of punishment” for women seeking the procedure.
He boasts about appointing Supreme Court justices who ended
federal protections for abortion access in 2022 but has more recently begun to
worry that Republicans are out of step with the majority of voters on
reproductive rights.
His IVF pledge appeared calculated to appeal to moderates
but will upset conservatives who for years opposed Barack Obama’s Affordable
Care Act because they were against the redistributive economics of
taxpayer-funded health insurance.
Almost every Senate Republican voted against assuring IVF
access in a vote in June – including Trump’s running mate J.D. Vance – and more
than half of the House Republican lawmakers have sponsored legislation that
threatens its legality.
Republicans are divided on fertility treatments such as IVF,
with many hailing them as a boost to American families.
Others, with strong beliefs that life begins at conception,
oppose IVF because the procedure can produce multiple embryos, not all of which
get used.
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Abortion rights activists worry that the Supreme Court
decision threatens IVF and were given cause by a February ruling in Alabama
that frozen embryos could be considered people, causing several clinics to
briefly pause treatments.
Yet if the abortion and IVF rows threatened to alienate
Trump’s most loyal supporters, rally-goers in Johnstown weren’t showing it.
“It’s not enough to make me not vote for him, no way,
because he is pro-life,” said Lisa Davis, a 54-year-old retired office
manager from the nearby town of Somerset.
“I know he wants to give some exceptions – and I think
there should be.”
“Why should I pay with my tax dollars for a baby
getting killed?” added retired nurse Rosemary Drzal, 69.
A fireside chat-style appearance at the conservative
pressure group Moms for Liberty later Friday did not touch on the issue.
