Former President Donald Trump on Wednesday continued taking credit for the Supreme Court decision that opened the door to new limits on abortion, signaling his desire to lock down pro-life support in the GOP primary while exposing himself to attack ads from Democrats.
Mr. Trump, in a post on his Truth Social website, said conservatives were unable to get a breakthrough until he nominated three conservative justices who played a pivotal role in last year’s Dobbs decision, which overturned the national right to abortion set in 1973.
“After 50 years of failure, with nobody coming even close, I was able to kill Roe v. Wade, much to the ‘shock’ of everyone, and for the first time put the Pro Life movement in a strong negotiating position over the Radicals that are willing to kill babies even into their 9th month, and beyond,” Mr. Trump wrote.
The post signaled Mr. Trump’s eagerness to gain credit for the pro-life win after his chief rival, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, championed a ban on abortion after six weeks of pregnancy in his state.
Mr. Trump, who has claimed credit for the Roe decision at rallies and did likewise at the CNN town hall last week, has been coy about whether he thinks the procedure should be banned after a specific number of weeks at the national level. He recently said he is examining all options while trying to shift the burden to Democrats, who have failed to say if they’d support any limits on abortion.
“Without me there would be no 6 weeks, 10 weeks, 15 weeks, or whatever is finally agreed to. Without me the pro Life movement would have just kept losing. Thank you President TRUMP!!!” Mr. Trump wrote.
Mr. Trump’s strategy has risks in that gathering support from pro-life groups might imperil support from other blocs, including suburban women, ahead of a bruising 2024 election season.
Democrats have signaled they will use the abortion issue as a political cudgel.
“Clip and save,” Democratic National Committee spokesman Ammar Moussa tweeted with a photo of Mr. Trump’s post.
• Tom Howell Jr. can be reached at thowell@washingtontimes.com.