As with most policy issues he’s commented on, Donald Trump’s positions on abortion could best be described as “confused.” Over the past decade or so, he’s said so many contradictory things on the subject that a detailed timeline to sort it out may be handy.
Like most Republicans, Trump has called for defunding Planned Parenthood — but unlike most Republicans, he has also praised the organization for its women’s health services. When he got pushback for saying in March that “there has to be some form of punishment” for women who have abortions, he took five different stances on abortion in three days before settling on the standard (and dubious) pro-life talking point that only doctors, not women, would face criminal punishment if abortion were outlawed.
It’s tempting to read Trump’s contradictory statements on abortion as a sign that he might govern as a secretly pro-choice president. Leading anti-abortion advocates have been reluctant to endorse him, given that he called himself “very pro-choice” in 1999 — and only started unambiguously declaring his “pro-life” stance in early 2011, when he was seriously considering a run for the 2012 Republican presidential nomination.
But lately, Trump seems to have finally figured out how to speak conservatives’ language on the issue of abortion. He’s winning enthusiastic endorsements from anti-abortion advocates and is even recruiting them to direct his campaign strategy.
And all signs indicate that an administration led by Trump and his vice presidential pick, Indiana Gov. Mike Pence, would, in fact, actively work to reverse Roe v. Wade and end legal abortion in America.