WASHINGTON — Donald Trump claimed Wednesday the removal of Roe v. Wade, accepting his role in selecting the Supreme Court justices who were instrumental in ending the half-century precedent protecting abortion rights across the country.
“After 50 years of failure, with no one reaching out, I was able to end Roe v. Wade, much to everyone’s surprise,» said Trump, the former president and favorite for the 2024 Republican nomination. saying on your social media platform.
Trump said his actions have «put the Pro-Life movement in a strong bargaining position» against abortion rights advocates, taking credit for the various bans conservatives are pushing across the country. More than a dozen states have enacted abortion limits since Roe was struck down last summer.
“Without me there would be no 6 weeks, 10 weeks, 15 weeks or whatever is finally agreed upon. Without me, the pro-Life movement would have continued to lose,» Trump added.
Trump’s effort to lean on a key part of his record could work to his advantage in the Republican primary, but could hurt him in the general election, given the backlash from most Americans who support abortion rights, according to the polls.
The former president was recently rebuked by anti-abortion group Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America after his campaign said abortion should be left to the states.
Trump hasn’t said what types of abortion bans he would support at the federal level, but he said at a recent CNN town hall: «I believe in exceptions, the life of the mother, rape, incest.»
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who is seen as Trump’s main rival for the 2024 nomination, recently signed a statewide six-week abortion ban into law.
Trump campaigned in 2016 to eliminate Roe v. Wade and said he would appoint «pro-life» judges who would overturn it. He made good on that promise by choosing judges Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett. All three were confirmed by a Republican-led Senate and, along with Republican appointees Samuel Alito and Clarence Thomas, made up the five-member majority on the Supreme Court that voted to strike out Roe.
The three Democratic-appointed justices dissented. Republican-appointed Chief Justice John Roberts disagreed with the decision to strike down Roe completely nationwide, but supported a narrower ruling to uphold Mississippi’s 15-week abortion ban in question.
The Dobbs v. The Jackson Women’s Health Organization, issued last summer, empowers states to place restrictions on abortion and opens the door for Congress to ban abortion at the federal level, even in states that want to make it legal.
The Democratic National Committee was quick to react to Trump’s comments on Wednesday.
“Donald Trump is on a mission to make sure everyone remembers that he is responsible for the most extreme abortion bans in the country,” DNC Chairman Jaime Harrison said in a statement. «Trump’s record speaks for itself: he is an anti-choice extremist who is hell-bent on taking away women’s right to make their own health care decisions.»