Former President Trump's opposition to a strict abortion ban in Arizona has put him at odds with Christian and pro-life activists, who represent a key voter base for his presidential election effort.
Last week, Trump's presidential campaign issued a statement saying states should decide how to regulate abortion. Days later, that position was tested when the Arizona Supreme Court ruled that an 1864 law prohibiting abortion without exception for rape or incest should be enforced.
Trump, who claims to be the most pro-life president in US history, said the court's decision “went too far” and urged lawmakers to “ACT IMMEDIATELY, to remedy what happened.” He said that “ideally” anti-abortion laws should contain exceptions for rape, incest and the life of the mother. In other comments, he expressed confidence that the Arizona law will be “rectified.”
That message was poorly received by Abby Johnson, a former Planned Parenthood director turned pro-life activist who runs the group “And Then There Were None.”
TRUMP SAYS ARIZONA PRO-LIFE LAW WENT 'TOO FAR' AS BIDEN CAMP CLAIMS AN URGENCY CHANGE IN POLICY
“And Then There Were None” CEO Abby Johnson speaks during the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) at a hotel in Mexico City, Mexico, on Nov. 19, 2022. Johnson told Fox News Digital in an interview that former President Donald Trump risks alienating. pro-life voters by opposing state abortion bans with no exceptions for rape or incest. (Reuters/Luis Cortés)
“What I heard was that [Trump] “He's a person who doesn't believe in banning abortion,” Johnson told Fox News Digital in an interview. He said there was a conflict between Trump's position that states should decide for themselves and his claim that Arizona went “too far.”
“So, here was a state that said we were going to ban abortion. And now it says, 'well, no, I don't want you to do it,'” Johnson said. “That tells me he doesn't want to ban it at the federal level. But he also doesn't think states should have the right to ban it at the state level.”
It was a disappointing development for Johnson, who spoke at the 2020 Republican National Convention in support of Trump's reelection. In his speech, he said Trump “has done more for the unborn than any other president.” He noted several of his accomplishments, including reinstating the Mexico City policy (critics call it the “global gag rule”), which blocks U.S. federal funding for nongovernmental organizations that support abortion services, as well as the appointment of the Supreme Court justices who overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022, making state restrictions on abortion possible.
In fact, Trump regularly takes credit for his pro-life record during the election campaign. But he has also repeatedly criticized his fellow Republicans for taking a hardline stance on the issue, blaming candidates who did not allow exceptions in cases of rape, incest and when the life of the pregnant person is at risk, for the setbacks of the Republican Party in the 2022 midterm elections.
“A lot of pro-life politicians don't know how to discuss this issue and they lose their elections. We had a lot of election losses because of this, because they didn't know how to discuss it. They had no idea,” she said last year at a Concerned Women of America leadership summit.
The Trump campaign did not respond to a request for comment.
TRUMP SAYS ABORTION SHOULD BE DECIDED BY THE STATES, 'WILL OF THE PEOPLE'
Former U.S. President Donald Trump during a campaign event in Green Bay, Wisconsin, U.S., Tuesday, April 2, 2024. Trump issued a statement on abortion rights on April 8, saying states should have freedom to decide their own restrictions on abortion. (Daniel Steinle/Getty Images)
The pro-life cause has also suffered a handful of defeats in ballot initiatives that enshrined abortion rights protections even in red states like Ohio and Kansas. Similar initiatives in Arizona and Florida, among other states, are expected to increase turnout in the November elections.
William Wolfe, a former Trump official who worked at the State and Defense Departments, said those defeats show that “the culture in America still loves abortion or deeply misunderstands what happens in an abortion.”
Wolfe is the executive director of the Center for Baptist Leadership (CBL), a newly founded nonprofit organization that exists to revitalize the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC), the largest Protestant Christian denomination in the United States. Although the group does not endorse or support political candidates, it issued a statement last week praising Trump for his pro-life record in the White House but urging him to “abandon the advice of committed political consultants” when engaging with groups. pro-life. lifetime voters in his third campaign for the White House.
Protesters during a Women's March rally in Phoenix, Arizona, U.S., Saturday, Jan. 20, 2024. Pro-choice groups condemned a state Supreme Court decision that said a voting law could be enforced. 1864 which prohibited most abortions. (Caitlin O'Hara/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
In an interview, Wolfe described Arizona's abortion ban as “a great law” and encouraged Trump to make an “unapologetic moral argument” about how abortion “takes innocent lives” and “should be recognized as murder.”
“Evangelicals and Southern Baptists are eager to support candidates who demonstrate unwavering courage and present moral arguments against the civilizational suicide that is abortion. I would encourage everyone to stand firm on this issue and run toward it and not away from it.” him, because we know that human life is valuable and must be protected from the moment of fertilization until natural death,” he stated.
ARIZONA SUPREME COURT APPROVES ALMOST TOTAL BAN ON ABORTION
Walker Wildmon, vice president and spokesman for the American Family Association, said the Arizona Supreme Court ruling was a valid ruling that recognizes the pro-life position, that life begins at conception and must be protected until natural death.
While giving Trump credit for his record, Wildmon said the former president's most recent statements are “out of line with his party and the entire pro-life movement.”
“Just as slavery was a stain on our country, abortion is also a stain on our country. So, in our opinion, since we believe that all life begins at conception, any abortion is too many abortions,” he said.
Wildmon warned that Trump risks alienating a significant number of evangelical Christian voters by trying to appeal to independents or suburban women by softening his pro-life stance.
“The reality is that moving or squirming on the abortion issue is not going to win you many voters,” he said. “It will really suppress the evangelical Christian vote. There are already evangelical Christians, a large voting bloc in the Republican Party, who have some concerns about President Trump and how he handles things and his restraint.”
He added that Trump “really needs to move to the right on this issue” to solidify his supporters ahead of a general election showdown with President Biden.
BILL MAHER JAWS TRUMP AND THE GOP'S TURN ON ABORTION: 'SO KILLING BABIES IS OKAY IN SOME STATES?'
As Republicans triangulated their position on the issue, Democrats have attempted to portray Trump as the man singularly responsible for stripping women of their rights.
“Here in Arizona, they have turned back the clock on women's rights and freedoms by more than a century. The reversal of Roe was a seismic event. And this ban in Arizona is one of the biggest aftershocks yet,” said the Vice President Kamala Harris at a campaign event in Tucson on Friday.
He called Trump “the architect of this health care crisis” and argued that a second Trump term would mean “more bans, more suffering, less freedom.”
Arizona Governor Katie Hobbs delivers a brief speech before President Joe Biden's remarks at the Tempe Center for the Arts on September 28, 2023 in Tempe, Arizona. Hobbs has called on the Arizona legislature to repeal the 1864 ban. (Rebecca Noble/Getty Images)
Brian Burch, president of CatholicVote, said Trump appears aware that far-reaching laws restricting access to abortion could make his reelection difficult. He and the other pro-life activists interviewed for this article emphasized that Trump remains the best alternative to President Biden for pro-life voters in the upcoming election.
“Trump can maintain the position that, under the circumstances, states should not go that far. And he is certainly entitled to that position. I think he is wrong on that, but that is a far cry from Joe Biden, who says he is willing impose abortion nationwide at any stage, for any reason, with a regime paid for by taxpayers,” Burch told Fox News Digital.
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Still, Johnson said many pro-life activists he met with have told him that Trump has lost their votes with his criticism of the Arizona law and Florida's six-week abortion ban. “That doesn't mean they're going to vote for Biden, but they're not going to vote for Trump,” he told Fox News Digital.
“I think just saying you're pro-life is no longer going to be enough for some pro-life voters,” Johnson added. “And while I think there are a lot of people who are waiting to see, and I'm one of those people who are waiting to see if Trump is going to right this ship, I think he needs to be very careful about how he moves forward between now and the election.”
Fox News Digital's Paul Steinhauser and Anders Hagstrom contributed to this report.
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