On Tuesday, Donald Trump modified his words about contraception restrictions after a furore that exposed his vulnerability on reproductive rights issues as his presidential bid keeps progressing.
On my Truth Social platform, I will not and have never been one to advocate for birth control or any other kind of contraceptives in the form of him writing on capital letters.
A Republican Party which does not support birth control ban either!
Trump’s post seemed to soften comments he made earlier when he said that he was “looking at” the issue; it is also the most recent case of 2024 presumptive GOP nominee and former president appearing ambiguous in regard to his views on reproductive rights.
“We’re looking at that and I’m going to have a policy on that very shortly,” he told KDKA last month when asked if he supports any limits on an individual’s right to use contraceptives.
Trump often refers to himself as having chosen three US Supreme Court justices who were instrumental in overturning Roe v. Wade’s 2022 decision making federally protected abortion illegitimate for twenty years, however, “I think it’s a smart decision, but we’ll be releasing it very soon,” Trump replied.
According to Gallup’s poll from 2023, majority of Americans are in favor of using contraceptives with only 12% seeing this practice as morally unacceptable.
President Joe Biden has already seized upon this particular comment by strongly believing that reproductive rights represent an electoral advantage and therefore aligning himself behind Trump as regards overturning Roe v. Wade.
“Women across the country are already suffering from Donald Trump’s post-Roe nightmare, and if he wins a second term, it’s clear he wants to go even further by restricting access to birth control and emergency contraceptives,” said spokeswoman Sarafina Chitika.
Trump has sometimes been inconsistent in his stance on women’s issues like abortion. While stricter laws may be preferred by his conservative base, outright bans on abortion have typically been rejected by voters at the ballot box.
In march he indicated that he would support a nationwide ban on abortion after 15 or 16 weeks of pregnancy but then later said states should make such decisions. Twenty one states already have total or partial bans against abortion.
In April, Trump informed Time magazine that he had “some pretty strong views” about mifepristone, an abortifacient, and would issue his opinion within a week but it did not happen.
Republicans are still paying for the Supreme Court’s decision in 2022. In midterm elections that year, the party performed worse than expected and conservatives have repeatedly lost votes on referendums related to abortions.
