Trump's Abortion Misdirection Seeks To Shroud Second Term Plans
Trump's Abortion Misdirection Seeks To Shroud Second Term Plans
Trump's statement on abortion sought to obfuscate his position. But his implicit support for state bans and his allies' Project 2025 plans to unilaterally restrict abortion tell the real story.
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In a video on Monday, Donald Trump said that he “was proudly the person responsible for the ending of… Roe v. Wade.” He then went on to tell a brazen, fear-mongering lie he often repeats, claiming Democrats want to allow babies to be executed after birth. Trump then said abortion will be determined by the states before ending his remarks by thanking the six conservative justices who ruled in favor of overturning Roe.
The very next day, that statement immediately backfired. The Arizona Supreme Court ruled that a 160-year-old abortion ban is enforceable. Reporting from NBC News:
“The Arizona Supreme Court ruled Tuesday that a 160-year-old near-total abortion ban still on the books in the state is enforceable, a bombshell decision that adds the state to the growing lists of places where abortion care is effectively banned.
The ruling allows an 1864 law in Arizona to stand that made abortion a felony punishable by two to five years in prison for anyone who performs one or helps a woman obtain one.”
This Arizona ruling, along with the 20 other states that have banned or restricted abortion, was made possible by Donald Trump, and he’s proud of it. He owns all of this.
In a video reaction to Trump’s statement on Monday, President Biden made sure to point out this truth:
“Donald Trump just endorsed every single state ban on reproductive care nationwide… If MAGA Republicans put a federal ban on his desk, he’d sign it. Donald Trump is the reason Roe is ended. If you re-elect me, I’ll be the reason why it’s restored.”
Biden’s words hit the mark. It’s clear to those of us paying attention that Trump’s statement was merely a political ploy to alleviate voter concerns about abortion under a second Trump term. But in reality, Trump owns the state bans currently implemented, and the abortion restrictions being plotted by his allies planning his second term have been wildly under-discussed.
Even if we did take some of Trump’s statement at his word, he did not explicitly promise he would not restrict abortion at the national level. This is important because Trump’s second administration-in-waiting is currently being trained, and executive orders are being drafted by the Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025 to restrict abortion nationwide. These self-proclaimed “Christian Nationalists” are vowing to use every lever of power possible to target abortion without a single vote in Congress.
But unfortunately, much of the coverage of Trump’s statement didn’t reflect this necessary context.
Trump placed a bet that news organizations would largely report his statement verbatim and without context. While some got it right, in many cases, Trump got exactly what he wanted.
documented the mainstream media coverage of Trump’s statement in her latest newsletter piece, titled “News Orgs Botch Trump's Statement on Abortion By Leaving Important Context Out of Headlines.” Parker is right. We simply cannot take Trump’s statement at face value.When dealing with a known source of disinformation like Trump, who told at least 30,000 lies while in office, including the Big Lie that the election was stolen, you have to approach everything he says with discernment and scrutiny. Trump's words tend to indicate one thing, while his actions deliver the exact opposite.
First, let’s take a quick look at what the overturning of Roe v. Wade has already unleashed on Americans so far. Then, we’ll look at how a second-term Trump could potentially restrict abortion in spite of his false promises.
The Post-Roe Results Trump Is “Proud” Of
The decades-long conservative project to overturn Roe v. Wade culminated in the 2022 Dobbs decision, and we’ve been grappling with the consequences ever since.
Twenty-one states have outright banned or restricted abortion, according to CNN’s abortion ban tracking tool. Republicans, particularly in red states, have made it their mission to target women’s reproductive rights. This has led to women being forced to flee red states for emergency care or, in some horrific cases, being prosecuted for miscarriages.
It’s not just legislatures pursuing these draconian laws. Arizona’s Supreme Court ruling was just the latest example of a radical court decision on abortion. Last week, the Florida Supreme Court allowed Governor Ron DeSantis’s 6-week abortion ban to take effect.
The Alabama Supreme Court's IVF ruling, which cited God and the Bible to essentially ban IVF in the state, was also a direct result of the post-Roe era. Alabama state lawmakers have since voted to protect IVF, but it doesn’t take away from the fact that this ruling was even possible is incredibly troubling.
Even if Trump was being honest, and he wouldn’t restrict abortion further, the current post-Roe status quo is absolutely unsustainable and one that voters should reject.
But of course, Trump isn’t being honest. It’s not enough for Republicans to have abortion banned in the states. In spite of what Trump may say right now, his allies are scheming up ways to use unchecked federal power to restrict abortion access if Trump wins re-election.
Project 2025’s Second-Term Agenda For Abortion
I’ve written extensively about Project 2025 and discussed it in an appearance on the Meidas Touch Network with PoliticsGirl. But for those who are unfamiliar, Project 2025 is an authoritarian plot to replace tens of thousands of federal workers with trained GOP loyalists, dismantle federal agencies, and turn the federal government into a tool of the far-right.
This coalition of 100 right-wing groups has equipped the next Republican president with a playbook detailing exactly how to destroy the administrative state and replace it with “an army” of trained loyalists who will implement the far-right’s agenda with no pushback.
That agenda includes the centralization of power in the executive branch, outright dismantling of multiple federal agencies, anti-abortion measures, rolling back environmental regulations, ending federal protections for LGBTQ+ people, pushing “Christian Nationalist” ideals, and undoing all progress made in diversity, equity, and inclusion within the federal government under the guise of religious freedom.
I’ve written a standalone piece on this, but it’s important to restate again here. Project 2025 is drafting executive orders Trump can issue on day one to restrict abortion access. Trump can do a lot of damage via executive order, and his appointees can wreak regulatory havoc via federal agencies.
The plans include overturning the FDA’s approval of the abortion drug mifepristone and rolling back all of President Biden’s abortion protections. Project 2025 also cites the use of the archaic Comstock Act to restrict and criminalize abortion pill access and, in an extreme interpretation of the law, restrict all abortions at the federal level through bans on mailing abortion-related material.
The plans amount to a “de facto national ban.” That is not an exaggeration. Read it directly from Politico’s article that put a spotlight on the threat:
“Many of the policies they advocate are ones Trump implemented in his first term and President Joe Biden rescinded — rules that would have a far greater impact in a post-Roe landscape. Other items on the wish list are new, ranging from efforts to undo state and federal programs promoting access to abortion to a de facto national ban. But all have one thing in common: They don’t require congressional approval.”
Julie Chávez Rodriguez, President Biden’s Campaign Manager, pointed directly to the threat of Project 2025 on abortion rights in remarks to reporters in January:
“They have laid out an 887-page blueprint that includes, in painstaking detail, exactly how they plan to leverage virtually every arm, tool, and agency of the federal government to attack abortion access. Trump’s close advisers have actual plans to block access to abortion in every single state without any help from Congress or the courts.”
Compounding these plans are the reports that indicated Trump has privately signaled support for a 16-week abortion ban. Are we supposed to believe he’s being totally honest in public and that he won’t sign an abortion ban sent to him by a Republican Congress?
When trying to determine what Donald Trump will do on abortion, his implicit support for state bans and his Project 2025 allies plotting his second term provide more indications than any of his efforts at political misdirection.
Trump said he’s proud of his role in ending Roe v. Wade. We should believe him.
