Trump on abortion: Stay united
Official says president troubled by effort to jail doctors
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump distanced himself from Alabama’s restrictive new abortion law by laying out differing personal views even as he urged anti-abortion activists to stay united heading into the 2020 election.
In a series of tweets about abortion, Trump did not state whether he was for or against the Alabama law, which forbids the procedure in almost all circumstances, including cases of rape and incest.
But a senior administration official said Sunday that the president is troubled by new state laws that seek to imprison doctors who perform abortions.
The official said Trump wanted to make clear that one can oppose abortion, as he does, but still agree to allow it when rape or incest is involved, or when the pregnant woman’s life is at risk. The official spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss Trump’s reasoning.
Trump tweeted late Saturday that gains by anti-abortion activists will “rapidly disappear” if, as he put it, “we are foolish and do not stay UNITED as one.”
Disagreement among Republicans is becoming apparent over Alabama’s law.
House Minority Leader Kevin Mccarthy, R-calif., opposed the law, saying he supports exceptions for rape and incest and serious risk to the woman’s life. Evangelist Pat Robertson said the law is too “extreme” and not the best vehicle to attempt to force the Supreme Court to revisit — and possibly overturn — Roe v. Wade, the 1973 ruling that established a woman’s constitutional right to an abortion.
Trump tweeted that “We have come very far” on the anti-abortion front in the two-plus years since he took office, noting the addition of more than 100 conservative federal judges and two Supreme Court justices “and a whole new & positive attitude about the Right to Life.”
Trump also said that “The Radical Left” is “imploding on this issue” and urged Republican unity on abortion to keep Democrats from winning. Trump says Democrats support abortion on demand, including ending pregnancies late in the term.
“We must stick together and Win for Life in 2020,” he tweeted.
Trump noted in the tweets that he holds the same anti-abortion position as President Ronald Reagan, but that stance was not a lifelong one for the current Oval Office occupant. Before aligning with the GOP as he neared a serious run for president, Trump favored abortion rights and supported Planned Parenthood.