Is Trump changing his stance on abortion?

Donald Trump has been a fickle fish over the years when it comes to his stance on abortion. Much of his campaign and part of the reason his MAGA supporters loved him is because he played a key part in having Roe v. Wade overturned by the Supreme Court.

However, many of Donald Trump's biggest supporters, in particular Evangelical Christians, may be scratching their heads in confusion about where the former president stands regarding abortion after some of his most recent statements.

Several media outlets reported that on April 10, following the state of Arizona's top court's decision to uphold a near-total abortion ban dating back to 1864. As reported by The Guardian, the Arizona law bans abortion from the moment of conception, with the only exception being if the mother's life is in grave danger.

When asked by reporters about the decision, Trump said, "Yeah, they did [go too far]." He then continued, "That'll be straightened out, and as you know, it's all about states' rights."

The reference to state rights is related to a post Donald Trump made to his social media platform TruthSocial on April 8 in which he attempted to clarify his stance on how abortion should be dealt with in the United States.

In the video Trump posted on Truth Social he said: "States will determine by vote or legislation, or perhaps both. Whatever they decide must be the law of the land, or in this case the law of the state."

"Many states will be different, many will have a different number of weeks, some will be more conservative than others," Trump continued.

"At the end of the day this is all about the will of the people. You must follow your heart, or in many cases your religion or faith. Do what's right for your family, and do what's right for yourself," Trump added.

Furthermore, according ABC News and several other media outlets, on April 10 Donald Trump told reporters he would not sign a national abortion ban if elected president. This goes against a promise Trump made when he was a presidential candidate in 2016.

President Joe Biden, of course, was quick to use this opportunity to criticize Donald Trump, saying in a statement, "Trump is scrambling. He's worried that since he's the one responsible for overturning Roe, the voters will hold him accountable in 2024. Well, I have news for Donald. They will."

It seems clear that Donald Trump is worried about the extreme results that the overturning of Roe v. Wade has had in some state legislatures. It could come back to bite him at the elections in November.

Not only that, even though Trump may have jumped on the pro-life bandwagon in recent years, not so long ago, Trump was an open supporter of abortion rights and even told the media he was pro-choice.

On October 24, 1999, while talking about possibly running for president, Donald Trump shared his views regarding abortion on the program 'Meet the Press,' saying, "I'm very pro-choice. I hate the concept of abortion. But still, I just believe in choice."

However, as Trump's political career took off and he faced more criticism for his pro-choice stance, he quickly pivoted and claimed that his views on abortion "evolved" to keep the far-right happy.

In August of 2015, Donald Trump, after facing plenty of attacks from his 2016 GOP rivals, at a debate Trump said he had evolved on the issue of abortion. Trump claimed that friends who were going to abort a child but in the end did not helped to change his mind saying, "That child today is a total superstar, a great, great, child."

Trump's public views on abortion continued to get more extreme as time went on. In fact, on March 30, 2016, Donald Trump told MSNBC host Chris Matthews that he believes women should be punished for having an abortion, saying, "There has to be some form of punishment," to which Matthews asked, "For the woman?" Matthews asked, to which Trump replied, "Yes."

The rest is history, the sad history we all know. Donald Trump continued to do everything he could to help get Roe v. Wade overturned while the far-right cheered him on.

However, the recent issues with abortion laws in various states, which have made infertility treatments basically illegal in some states or the extreme cases of abortion bans like in Arizona, means that Trump has begun to backpedal, as it becomes clear that some of these measures aren't exactly what his MAGA followers had in mind and could affect his popularity ahead of the US Presidential elections this year.

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