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Trump’s Abortion Policy Position Draws Criticism from Conservatives and Liberals

Allie Beth Stuckey: This is a ‘weak, weak statement that is a signal for independents who will never vote for him anyway’

Published: April 8, 2024
  |   By Chris Karr
Trump’s Abortion Policy Position Draws Criticism from Conservatives and Liberals

Former President Donald Trump’s Monday announcement that he supports states’ rights on abortion legislation has drawn criticism in equal measure from conservatives and liberals.


“My view is now that we have abortion where everybody wanted it from a legal standpoint, the states will determine by vote or legislation or perhaps both,” Trump said. “And whatever they decide must be the law of the land and, in this case, the law of the state.”

The former president acknowledged that states will differ in regard to laws regulating abortion access.

“Many will have a different number of weeks or some will have more conservative [laws] than others and that’s what they will be,” Trump said. “At the end of the day, this is all about the will of the people. You must follow your heart, or in many cases, your religion or your faith. Do what’s right for your family and do what’s right for yourself, do what’s right for your children, do what’s right for our country and vote. So important to vote.”

Trump also said he was “strongly in favor” of exceptions for rape, incest and situations that could threaten the life of the mother.

“At the end of the day, it’s all about will of the people,” he added. “That’s where we are right now and that’s what we want: will of the people.”

Conservative author and commentator Allie Beth Stuckey said the presumptive Republican presidential nominee released a “weak, weak statement that is a signal for independents who will never vote for him anyway.”

“Babies conceived via rape/incest are just as much babies as any other,” she said. “Why do they deserve the death penalty for the circumstances of their conception.”

Stuckey also took Trump’s advocacy for in vitro fertilization (IVF) to task, claiming that the practice “involves eugenics, the indefinite freezing of embryos and the mass discarding of embryos.”


Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America President Marjorie Dannenfelser said she was “deeply disappointed” in Trump’s position in a statement posted on X.

“Unborn children and their mothers deserve national protections and national advocacy from the brutality of the abortion industry,” she wrote. “Saying the issue is ‘back to the states’ cedes the national debate to the Democrats who are working relentlessly to enact legislation mandating abortion throughout all nine months of pregnancy. If successful, they will wipe out states’ rights.”


Rand Paul’s chief strategist Doug Stafford also slammed Trump’s announcement: “I’m not sure a major candidate has ever produced a worse statement on Life.”

In response to Stafford, BlazeTV host Steve Deace said, “Correct.”

“So is it morally repugnant? Sure, but the Right long ago made it clear that Trump is its ultimate moral plumb line now in this era. So that's a day that ends in Y,” he said. “Politically it's just, well, dumb. No win here whatsoever. I can't imagine there's one single woman voter out there who is now like, ‘I see Trump in a whole new light.’ Nor will this fire up the segment of the church hesitant about aligning with Trump but pro-life to now go all-in for him.”

Deace added: “Trump is messaging to a constituency that simply does not exist. This is like the post-2008 GOP looking for ‘limited government but give me Sodom & Gomorrah’ voters it convinced itself existed, because they wanted it to be true.”


Across the aisle, liberals also criticized Trump’s statement.

Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker said, “We cannot let him and his terrifying views back in the White House.”

“He’s ‘proudly the person responsible’ for ending Roe,” he wrote on X. “He supports abortion bans that don’t even allow exceptions for rape & incest and believes women should be punished for having an abortion.”


Bill Krystal, founding director of Defending Democracy Together, said the former president’s “waffling on abortion could help him politically in the short term. But it could hurt him if people understand this is classic authoritarianism.”

“Trump's lack of principle and his frank political calculation on abortion won't hurt him,” he wrote in a separate post. “The abandonment of principles in the service of the pursuit of power is a feature, not a bug, of the authoritarian project. It's all about power--and principles might constrain power.”


Morning Joe’s Joe Scarborough mentioned Florida law, which prohibits abortion after 15 weeks, and a Wisconsin law that criminalized abortion in 1849.

“There are, again, crazy, extreme laws that have been passed that Donald Trump just said he supports and he salutes,” Scarborough said. “[He] said, ‘I’m responsible for that.’”

“He’s proud of it, and Democrats should drive that message home because for women, this is a matter of life and death, and the men who love them,” Morning Joe co-host Mika Brzezinski said. “These laws … just muddle the medical journey that is already a nightmare for women … [who] have a situation that is dire.”


Amanda Litman, co-founder of the progressive organization Run for Something, expressed concerns about future policies Trump might enforce at the federal level.

“Donald Trump will absolutely sign a national abortion ban if one comes in front of him & without a doubt, he will appoint anti-abortion judges whenever given the opportunity,” she wrote. “We know exactly where he stands on this - just look at what he did as president.

In response to Litman, author Ryan James Girdusky said, “Congress will never pass a national abortion ban… not even if Republicans win 60 senate seats.”

“Worrying if Trump would sign it is like worrying if you’ll be able to get tickets to a Prince concert if he comes back from the dead,” he added.


Though Trump’s statement received a noteworthy amount of bipartisan criticism, other conservatives praised the former president.

“I agree with President Trump: I do NOT support a federal abortion ban, policy should be up to individual states,” Arizona U.S. Senate candidate Kari Lake said.


Turning Point USA founder and CEO Charlie Kirk called the statement “masterful.”

“Pro-Life leaders I've spoken to are very happy,” he wrote on X. “Trump is clear on the moral position of abortion, reiterated he is glad Roe was repealed, and then sends it back to the states for this battle to be waged.”

“He's 100% right. If we don’t win elections, we get zero of what we want. Without political power Democrats will make abortion the law of the land,” he added.


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