Just weeks after condemning Donald Trump’s reluctance to support federal abortion restrictions, the Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life American group is now applauding the former president following a constructive meeting.
On Monday, the organization’s president, Marjorie Dannenfelser, spoke with Trump and Senator Lindsey Graham (R., S.C.), calling the meeting “terrific” in an official statement released later that day. “His presidency was the most consequential in American history for the pro-life cause,” Dannenfelser wrote.
“During the meeting, President Trump reiterated his opposition to the extreme Democratic position of abortion on demand, up until the moment of birth, paid for by taxpayers – and even in some cases after the child is born. President Trump believes such a position is unworthy of a great nation and believes the American people will rebel against such a radical position that aligns us with China and North Korea.”
“President Trump knows the vast majority of Americans oppose brutal late-term abortions when the child can feel pain and suck their thumbs.”
Dannenfelser has previously said that SBA would not back any 2024 presidential candidate who doesn’t support a 15-week federal abortion ban. She did not say whether Trump agreed to such a proposal during their meeting, but did offer that the former president “reiterated that any federal legislation protecting these children would need to include the exceptions for life of the mother and in cases of rape and incest.”
The public comments represent an about-face from Dannenfelser’s earlier criticism of Trump over comments in which he expressed support for allowing individual states to go their own way on abortion.
“President Donald J. Trump believes that the Supreme Court, led by the three justices which he supported, got it right when they ruled this is an issue that should be decided at the state level,” Steven Cheung, Trump’s spokesperson, told the Washington Post.
The comment drew the ire of Dannenfelser who denounced it as “a morally indefensible position for a self-proclaimed pro-life presidential candidate to hold. Life is a matter of human rights, not states’ rights,” she responded in an official statement in late April. “The only way to save these children is through federal protections, such as a 15-week federal minimum standard when the unborn child can feel excruciating pain.”
“We will oppose any presidential candidate who refuses to embrace at a minimum a 15-week national standard to stop painful late-term abortions while allowing states to enact further protections.”
Many Republican presidential candidates have supported stringent caps on abortion. Florida governor Ron DeSantis signed a so-called “Heartbeat Bill” in April capping abortions at 6-weeks. Similarly, Asa Hutchinson, who proposed a similar ban while governor of Arkansas, has expressed support for a similar move if elected president.
Meanwhile, Republican contenders Vivek Ramaswamy and Nikki Haley, the former Southern Carolina governor, have insisted that individual states should be empowered to create their own abortion policies.
Trump has previously referred to himself as “the most pro-life president in American history”