Does Trump Really Have Any Policy on Abortion?
The day was Aug. 18, 1988. New Orleans. President Ronald Reagan’s vice president, George H.W. Bush took the stage at the Republican National Convention to accept the nomination for president.
He’d been lagging in the polls behind Massachusetts Gov. Mike Dukakis, and Jack Kemp suggested an idea that could save his campaign: a pledge. Speechwriter Peggy Noonan wrote it up and Bush made history that night: “Read my lips: no new taxes.”
The line worked — immediately after the convention, Bush surged in the polls and went on to beat Dukakis. Ultimately, however, the pledge was also his undoing.
Bush would go on to raise multiple taxes, including the income tax rate, payroll and excise taxes, and others. That year Republicans lost seats in the House and Senate, and in 1992, Bill Clinton used the reneged pledge to beat him.
I give all this history to state the obvious: issues matter, and candidates should be clear and honest about where they stand.
One issue poised to play big in the 2024 presidential election is women’s reproductive rights.
From abortion to contraception and in vitro fertilization, it drove Democrats to significant wins in the 2022 midterms, and they’re hoping Republican extremism on the issue helps them again in November.
And the Republican Party is extreme. Deeply unpopular rulings and new legislation everywhere from Alabama to Arizona have demonstrated just how far some Republican lawmakers and conservative judges are willing to go to limit women’s reproductive rights. But the party’s extremism isn’t the only problem. Their nominee is.
Former President Donald Trump can’t seem to land on a decipherable or even singular position when it comes to reproductive rights — he’s been all over the map.
His latest mixed message came this week, while talking to a Pittsburgh news anchor. “Do you support any restrictions on a person’s right to contraception?” asked Jon Delano.
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