Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump is facing significant questions from pro-life voters in advance of the first primary and caucus votes next month.And when asked on the campaign trail to provide more specifics about the kind of abortion policies he would implement as president, he declined to give any specifics.
Instead, he repeated what he has say countless times before that he is pro-life on abortion but without providing any further details about what he would do on a myriad of pro-life issues he will face as president — most notably naming judges to the Supreme Court who will determine the abortion policy for the nation for decades to come.
SIGN THE PLEDGE: I Pledge to Vote for a Pro-Life Candidate for President
CNN reports on the Trump press conference where he declined to delineate his abortion position further:
Donald Trump touted the strength of his anti-abortion position during a press conference Tuesday, but dodged questions testing the specificity of those views.
The press conference comes less than a week before Iowa’s traditionally conservative Republican voters head to caucus sites and the same day a group of an anti-abortion leaders urged Iowans to oppose Trump’s candidacy, suggesting inconsistencies on the issue.
“All I can tell you is this I’m pro-life and I’ve been pro-life a long time,” Trump said Tuesday.
“I just don’t want to talk about that right now. Everybody knows my views and I think my views are very plain,” Trump said.
Addressing supporters following the press conference, Trump conceded that his views on abortion have changed and noted that when he was just a businessman he “never gave it much thought.”
“When it comes to pro-life I’ve evolved,” Trump said.
The lack of specifics has already caused a group of leading pro-life women to encourage pro-life voters in Iowa not to vote for Trump next month.
In a letter provided to LifeNews, the group of pro-life women leaders claim Trump is not trustworthy on the abortion issue because offhanded comments he’s made make it appear he supports pro-abortion judges on the Supreme Court or a pro-abortion vice-presidential running mate. The group includes heavy hitters like Marjorie Dannenfelser of the Susan B. Anthony List and Penny Nance of Concerned Women for America and black pro-life activist Star Parker.
The letter comes after an op-ed Trump wrote over the weekend outlining his pro-life views on abortion.
Trump opens the column explaining that he is pro-life with exceptions only for the very rarest abortions.
“Let me be clear — I am pro-life. I support that position with exceptions allowed for rape, incest or the life of the mother being at risk,” he said. “I did not always hold this position, but I had a significant personal experience that brought the precious gift of life into perspective for me.”
Trump said America has gone astray because it has moved away from the founding principles the nation’s founders put in most — most notably the right to life.
America, when it is at its best, follows a set of rules that have worked since our Founding. One of those rules is that we, as Americans, revere life and have done so since our Founders made it the first, and most important, of our “unalienable” rights.
Over time, our culture of life in this country has started sliding toward a culture of death. Perhaps the most significant piece of evidence to support this assertion is that since Roe v. Wade was decided by the Supreme Count 43 years ago, over 50 million Americans never had the chance to enjoy the opportunities offered by this country. They never had the chance to become doctors, musicians, farmers, teachers, husbands, fathers, sons or daughters. They never had the chance to enrich the culture of this nation or to bring their skills, lives, loves or passions into the fabric of this country. They are missing, and they are missed.
