Former President Donald Trump took a hypothetical political debate about abortion out of the conversation of the 2024 presidential race.
The presumptive Republican presidential nominee announced Monday morning that he thinks abortion is a state matter, meaning he will not pursue a national abortion ban if elected president later this year. It’s understandable, but Trump should pursue some form of an abortion reduction reduction agenda if he wins.
“Many people have asked me what my position is on abortion and abortion rights,” Trump said in a video he posted on Truth Social. “My view is now that we have abortion where everybody wanted it from a legal standpoint, the states will determine by vote or legislation or perhaps both. And whatever they decide must be the law of the land — in this case, the law of the state.”
For Trump, the move makes perfect political sense. Most people are pro-choice — 69% support legal abortion in the first trimester, according to a June 2023 Gallup poll. Because most people are pro-choice, abortion is, unfortunately, a political loser for the GOP that cost the party votes in the 2022 midterm elections.
The GOP also lacks the votes to set a federal gestational limit on abortion anytime soon. Doing so requires at least 60 votes in the Senate. Plus, a 15-week ban that some Republicans support would do little to prevent abortion, as only about 5% of abortions happen after that point.
The Senate currently only has 46 self-identified pro-life members, as three Republicans, Lisa Murkowski (R-AK), Susan Collins (R-ME), and Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV), identify as pro-choice.
Regardless of how the 2024 elections go, almost no scenario exists in which the GOP has the 60 pro-life votes to get any abortion restriction bill to the president’s desk.
As president, Trump could make progress on the life matter, but he needs to take a more creative approach. If he wins, he should pursue policies that reduce the number of abortions, primarily by curbing unwanted pregnancies.
Three obvious federal actions Trump should take via executive order to reduce abortion include reinstating the “Mexico City policy,” banning foreign aid money from going to abortion providers; reinstating the Trump-era “Protect Life Rule,” barring abortion providers from receiving Title X family planning funding; and ending the U.S. military policy that pays for women’s abortion travel expenses.
Outside of those actions, Trump should promise to make the Food and Drug Administration let pharmacists dispense oral contraceptives to women without a doctor’s prescription.
Trump could do all of that without congressional approval if he wins again, in addition to appointing pro-life federal judges if the Senate has a GOP majority.
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He could also support a larger child tax credit, including his proposed baby bonus scheme, increasing Title X family planning funding for non-abortion providers, expanding paid, or at least unpaid, family leave, and killing the marriage penalty on the earned income tax credit because unmarried women are more likely to abort than married ones.
The GOP should continue fighting to protect unborn children, even if the chances of a national abortion ban soon are nonexistent. Doing so will require national GOP candidates to think differently about the matter.
Tom Joyce (@TomJoyceSports) is a political reporter for the New Boston Post in Massachusetts.