CHICAGO (LifeSiteNews) — Former president and current Republican White House nominee Donald Trump took credit on Wednesday for making the Republican Party “much less radical” on abortion, continuing to articulate a view of the pro-life cause at odds with the stance that helped entrench him at the top of the GOP.
Trump appeared for a lengthy and contentious sit-down interview with the National Association of Black Journalists that covered multiple issues. At one point, he was asked, “do you think the Republican Party is getting a little too judgy about people’s lives, when you think about abortion, when you think about what [Trump’s running mate] JD Vance is saying” about a correlation between childlessness and left-wing politics.
“I don’t think, look, I think the Democrat Party is really the one that has the problem, I think they’re radical on abortion because they’re allowing abortion in the ninth month, they’re allowing the death of the baby after the baby is born,” Trump began.
An interviewer interjected that infanticide is “illegal in every state in the country,” which is technically true under the federal Born-Alive Infants Protection Act of 2002, but ignores Democrats’ opposition to the Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act, which would give the law meaningful enforcement mechanisms it currently lacks (as well as Democrats’ opposition to any other abortion limits). Newly-born babies are still refused care and allowed to die in various states, such as California.
Trump responded by reminding the audience of former Democrat Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam’s infamous 2019 defense of infanticide, which he contrasted with his own party.
“And I think the Republican Party is actually, much less radical, I think I’ve made them much less radical, perhaps, the Republican Party, what we’re doing is bringing it back to the states,” he said.
Trump: I think they are radical on abortion because they are allowing abortion in the ninth month. They are allowing the death of a baby after the baby is born.
Sir, that is illegal in every state. Illegal in every state in the country. pic.twitter.com/uiBXIyuIUd
— Acyn (@Acyn) July 31, 2024
Trump: I think I’ve made the Republican much less radical pic.twitter.com/WFF7TA2dzc
— Acyn (@Acyn) July 31, 2024
Trump’s declaration summarized his efforts over the past two years to stake out a “middle ground” on abortion that closes the door on banning abortion nationally in favor of relegating future abortion battles to the states, while expressing indifference to what policies states ultimately adopt except to occasionally chide pro-life actions he deems too “harsh.”
Last month, at its 2024 nominating convention the GOP adopted a dramatically-shortened platform drafted and promoted by Trump surrogates, which among other changes cut the party’s longstanding support for a constitutional amendment to ban abortion and a federal law extending equal protection to preborn babies in favor of leaving abortion policy to individual states; it also endorsed birth control (many common methods of which function as abortifacients) and embryo-destructive in vitro fertilization.
Trump’s declaration that a strong, consistent pro-life stance is “radical” contrasts sharply with the generally pro-life record he committed to in exchange for pro-life support in 2016 and is more in line with his “pro-choice” past as a celebrity businessman, as does his recent affirmation that he does not oppose mail distribution of abortion pills.
National polling aggregations by RealClearPolitics and RaceToTheWH currently indicate that Trump continues to lead Vice President Kamala Harris, Democrats’ presumptive replacement for President Joe Biden as their party’s nominee, in both the national popular vote and the Electoral College.