Abortion, the one issue that for decades united conservative Christian “pro-family” activists and rallied evangelical voters, blew up last week in the days before Americans watched a total eclipse of the sun.
First, Donald Trump rattled the anti-abortion movement by taking what appeared to be a pro-choice stance and saying the issue should be decided by the states, not the federal government. The next day, a court in Arizona upheld an 1864 law that bans nearly all abortions.
In 2020, Focus on the Family and other Christian groups backed Trump as “the most pro-life president” in history. And in a video he released Monday April 8, Trump said he was “proudly the person responsible” for the Supreme Court overturning Roe v Wade two years ago.
But that was then. Trump says in the future, abortion should be left to voters in the states. He avoided the topic for months over fears of alienating anti-abortion voters in primary elections.
Embracing choice is a return to form for Trump, who was “very pro-choice” through 2010. He announced his opposition to abortion after deciding to enter politics.
Some Christian leaders and at least one pro-life group criticized Trump’s shift, but most remained silent or reaffirmed their support for Trump.
Some Christian leaders and at least one pro-life group criticized Trump’s shift, but most remained silent or reaffirmed their support for Trump.
Marjorie Dannenfelser of Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America called Trump’s flip-flop a “total eclipse of reason” and said pro-lifers were “deeply disappointed.” Trump dismissed her in a post on his Truth Social Network, saying she and others had been unsuccessful “until I came along and got the job done.”
Former Vice President Mike Pence called Trump’s change “a slap in the face to the millions of pro-life Americans who voted for him in 2016 and 2020.”
Southern Baptist pastor J.D. Greear agreed, writing on X: “What President Trump said is NOT pro-life. It’s basically just less aggressive pro-choice.”
Trump received a warmer response from many groups, including National Right to Life, Students for Life, Concerned Women for America, Family Research Council and secular groups Heritage Foundation and Turning Point USA. Staying silent was Alliance Defending Freedom, the conservative legal group founded by James Dobson and other leaders four decades ago. ADF led the legal defense of Arizona’s 1864 abortion law.
Focus did not comment on Trump’s shift, but CEO Jim Daly previously questioned Trump’s resolve. In 2023, Trump spoke out against abortion bans on TV’s “Meet the Press.”
“No law that saves innocent lives is a mistake,” Daly said then.
James Dobson, who served in Trump’s evangelical advisory group, is largely retired from Dr. James Dobson’s Family Talk, the organization he founded in 2010 after leaving Focus. The group remains loyal to Trump, praising him in an April 12 statement:
In a video statement, former President Trump said he was proud to have appointed three justices who were part of the majority that overturned Roe v. Wade, thus ending the lie that there was a right to abortion in the Constitution. By name, he thanked the six justices that made up that majority “for having the courage” to act. He emphasized that the legal issue of abortion has now become an individual state matter for the people to decide. The Dr. James Dobson Family Institute celebrated the momentous overturning of Roe v. Wade, and greatly appreciates former President Trump’s strong pro-life policies that his administration implemented during his tenure.
In November 2024, the country will have a stark binary choice on the ballot regarding the sanctity of life, religious liberty, and parental rights.
What happened in Arizona
One day after Trump’s announcement, Republican-appointed judges on Arizona’s Supreme Court upheld an 1864 law that bans nearly all abortions, generating concern in the GOP ranks about how the court’s decision will impact voters in this and other crucial swing states in November.
Kari Lake, the Trump-endorsed candidate for an Arizona Senate seat, previously said she supported the 1864 law and was “1000 percent” opposed to abortion. But following Trump’s shift, she followed course and immediately reversed her past positions, criticizing the judges’ decision and claiming she would oppose a federal abortion ban if elected in November.
Lake is not alone. According to CNN, once solidly anti-abortion GOP candidates in competitive districts are hedging their bets and downplaying their past anti-abortion stances ahead of the 2024 elections, including Mike Rogers of Michigan, Dave McCormick of Pennsylvania and Mark Robinson of North Carolina, who previously said there could be “no compromise” on abortion.
References to abortion are disappearing from GOP candidates’ websites.
The national mood
The concern is well founded. Support for abortion access has risen since Roe was overturned. Gallup reports 34% of Americans believe abortion should be legal “under any circumstances” and 51% say it should be legal “only under certain circumstances.” Only 13% say it should be illegal in all circumstances, the position of some abortion abolitionist groups.
Voters have made their opposition to such restrictions clear, favoring abortion rights in all seven states that have put the matter on their ballots in the last two years. In November, abortion access will be on ballots in as many as a dozen states, including Arizona and Florida, home to the most restrictive laws.
But Trump’s approach still riled conservative Christian newspaper columnist Cal Thomas, who said Trump’s position “is one that conforms more to polls than principle, which is nothing new.” David Brooks said Trump’s GOP had decided “to bend with the political waves.” Others called Trump’s move cynical, expedient or transactional.
David French
David French, a Christian attorney who formerly worked with the Alliance Defending Freedom, was harsh in his criticism of Trump, the GOP and pro-lifers who follow his shifting views on the crucial issue.
“There is no truly pro-life party in the United States” wrote French, a columnist for The New York Times. He called Trump’s stance “the most pro-choice position a Republican presidential candidate has taken since at least Gerald Ford” and said it had led to “the remarkable moral, political and intellectual collapse of the pro-life movement.”
“Pro-life Republicans blinked,” French wrote. “They caved, almost instantly, on a core philosophical element of the movement — the incalculable value of every human life no matter how small — and the movement is now standing by or even applauding as Trump is turning the Republican Party into a pro-choice party, one more moderate than the Democrats, but pro-choice still.
“Now I’m left wondering how much of the movement was truly real. How much was it really about protecting all human life? And were millions of ostensibly pro-life Americans happy with pro-life laws, only so long as they … imposed no burden” on us?
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