I didn’t care much for last night’s “town hall” on CNN and wish Trump had been asked some more interesting questions. But Trump deserves one cheer, maybe even two, for what he said about abortion.
What I liked: He hit four points that ought to be components of any Republican message on abortion. He celebrated Dobbs rather than being defensive about it; suggested that he wanted to build a consensus on abortion policy; clarified that any federal legislation would not restrict abortion in cases of rape, incest, and threats to a mother’s life; and highlighted Democratic extremism on the issue. All of this is consistent with the way Nikki Haley has been talking about the issue, too.
What I didn’t like: I don’t think anyone is going to believe that Trump, or anyone else, could come up with an abortion policy that makes everybody happy, as he promised. At one point, he suggested that Dobbs prohibited abortions late in pregnancy; it did not. And I think it undermines the pro-life message if one of its most prominent spokesmen is someone who, for example, has just been found liable for sexually abusing and then defaming a woman.
An off-base criticism: Predictably, the press is saying that Trump was misleading when he said Democrats believe abortion should be legal even very late in pregnancy, on the ground that “later term abortions are rare.” But Trump didn’t comment at all about the frequency of abortions late in pregnancy. The CDC estimates that 4 percent of abortions in 2020 took place after the 15th week, and the best estimate we have for the total number of U.S. abortions that year is 930,161. That makes for 37,000 late-term abortions. Is that “rare”? It’s about twice the number of gun homicides that year. Anyway, Trump spoke about what the Democratic policy on those abortions is. And he spoke accurately.
A better criticism: Trump is being accused of evasiveness on what federal abortion legislation he would support. It’s a criticism that applies to Haley too. If you’re going to support a federal role in abortion, say it is going to be designed to build consensus, and specify the exceptions it would have, I’m not sure what’s gained by refraining from putting forth a starting position such as a 15-week ban.