Donald Trump is privately expressing support for a specific compromise on abortion rights, according to a report from The New York Times.
The Times claims that Trump would support the idea of a federal 16-week abortion ban with exceptions in the cases of rape, incest, or if there is a threat to the life of the mother.
The report states:
Mr. Trump has studiously avoided taking a clear position on restrictions to abortion since Roe v. Wade was overturned in the middle of 2022, galvanizing Democrats ahead of the midterm elections that year. He has said in private that he wants to wait until the Republican presidential primary contest is over to publicly discuss his views, because he doesn’t want to risk alienating social conservatives before he has secured the nomination, the two people said.
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One thing Mr. Trump likes about a 16-week federal ban on abortions is that it’s a round number. “Know what I like about 16?” Mr. Trump told one of these people, who was given anonymity to describe a private conversation. “It’s even. It’s four months.”
Interestingly, Trump is said to be dismissive of strongly pro-life candidates as his running mate. When told that the candidate does not support the “three exceptions” he is said to become “instantly dismissive.”
This line of thinking could rule out various potential running mates, including strong social conservatives such as Dr. Ben Carson. It would also mark a change in strategy from 2016 when his decision to choose Mike Pence was rooted in a desire to win over the evangelical base that may have been offended or wary of Trump’s brash personality.
Trump’s skepticism of strongly pro-life legislation is well documented. Last September, he told a meeting of Concerned Women of America in Washington D.C. that conservatives and Republicans were incapable of discussing the issue effectively and argued that the overturning of Roe vs Wade was the principal cause of the relatively disappointing 2022 election cycle:
A lot of politicians who are pro-life do not know how to discuss this topic. And they lose their election. We had a lot of election losses because of this because they didn’t know how to discuss it.
When they do talk about it correctly, it’s an issue that really can be positive because we do have to hold on to office, we do have to win. And we can win elections on this issue, but it’s very delicate, and you know, explaining it properly is an extremely important thing. You have to be able to speak and explain it properly… I listen to people talking about it and they don’t know what to say.
The presumptive nominee also wants to try and turn the issue of abortion on its head by focusing on the extremity of Democrats who believe in termination up until the point of birth, which many would correctly characterize as a form of infanticide.
Trump’s spokeswoman, Karoline Leavitt, refused to be drawn on Trump’s position. “As President Trump has stated, he would sit down with both sides and negotiate a deal that everyone will be happy with,” she told the Times. “[Trump] appointed strong Constitutionalist federal judges and Supreme Court justices who overturned Roe v. Wade and sent the decision back to the states, which others have tried to do for over 50 years.”
