June 21, 2019 (LifeSiteNews) — President Donald Trump slammed Democrats on abortion again while kicking off his re-election campaign on Wednesday night in Orlando, Florida, using direct language similar to when he first ran for president.
“Virtually every top Democrat also now supports taxpayer-funded abortion right up to the moment of birth,” Trump told a large crowd that fiercely booed after his comment before he continued, “ripping babies straight from the mother’s womb.”
Trump first described late-term abortion in similar terms during his final debate with Hillary Clinton in late October 2016. His willingness to frame abortion in such terms was a first for a presidential candidate. He said:
What Hillary is saying in the ninth month you can take the baby and rip the baby out of the womb of the mother just prior to the birth of the baby. Now, you can say that that's okay, and Hillary can say that that's OK, but it's not OK with me. Because based on what she's saying and based on where she's going and where she's been, you can take the baby and rip the baby out of the womb in the ninth month on the final day. And that's not acceptable.”
Wednesday night in Orlando before a crowd of 20,000, with more than 100,000 having requested seats, Trump went on to describe recent state-level efforts to legalize leaving a living newborn victim of a failed abortion to die, as has been floated in Virginia and other states, also using bold language.
“Leading Democrats have even opposed measures to prevent the execution of children after birth,” Trump stated to more resounding boos. “You saw that in Virginia.”
“Republicans believe that every life is a sacred gift from God,” the president went on, receiving cheers and applause, “that is why I’ve asked Congress to prohibit extreme late-term abortion.”
Trump called on the U.S. Congress to ban late-term abortion in his State of the Union address in February. He gave a strong condemnation of extreme statements and legislation from pro-abortion Democrats in New York and Virginia earlier this year.
New York passed a radical abortion expansion as soon as Democrats had control of its statehouse in January, and Virginia considered legalizing abortion up through birth and including leaving the child who survives abortion to die should the mother request it, which had the apparent approval of Democrat Gov. Ralph Northam.
“There could be no greater contrast to the beautiful image of a mother holding her infant child than the chilling displays our nation saw in recent days,” Trump said in his February address to the nation. “Lawmakers in New York cheered with delight upon the passage of legislation that would allow a baby to be ripped from the mother's womb moments before birth.”
“These are living, feeling, beautiful babies who will never get the chance to share their love and dreams with the world,” he said. “And then, we had the case of the governor of Virginia where he stated he would execute a baby after birth.”
“Democrats are becoming the party of late-term abortion, high taxes, Open Borders and Crime!” the president also tweeted in late January.
In a speech at a March rally in Michigan, Trump denounced Democrats and their support for infanticide and abortion.
“In recent months, the Democrat Party has also been aggressively pushing extreme late-term abortion,” he said, “allowing children to be ripped from their mother’s womb up until the moment of birth,”
The March comments on Democrats and abortion also got boos.
“In Virginia, the governor stated he would even allow a newborn baby — wrap the baby up, make the baby comfortable — to be executed. After birth,” he said. “And that is why in my State of the Union address I called on Congress to immediately pass legislation prohibiting the extreme late-term abortion of babies.”
In a pre-recorded video message to the March for Life in January, Trump said, “Every life is worth protecting” and pledged to veto any legislation that crosses his desk that “weakens the protection of human life.”
Last month, the president conversely responded to passage of the strongest abortion ban in the U.S., the Alabama Human Life Protection Act, with a disappointing and imprecise statement supporting abortion exceptions.