Former President Donald Trump divided many conservatives on Monday when he announced his official position on abortion in a video he posted on social media.
Many who expressed disappointment were those who are ardently pro-life and generally oppose abortion procedures.
In a more than four-minute video Trump posted on Truth Social, the country’s 45th president and 2024 presumptive GOP nominee argued that the Republican Party should make a stance on the issue clear.
Trump argued that letting states decide the issue was important to winning elections in the fall and going forward.
“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 in the video.
“And whatever they decide must be the law of the land,” he added. “In this case, the law of the state.”
Roe v. Wade was overturned nearly two years ago, thanks in large part to Trump’s three Supreme Court nominees deciding the previous and longstanding law was unconstitutional.
Since then, states across the country have tackled the issue differently, which Trump commented on in his video post.
Should there be a nationwide abortion ban?
“Many states will be different,” Trump said. “Many will have a different number of weeks, or some will have more conservative than others, and that’s what they will be. At the end of the day, this is all about the will of the people.”
Trump also expressed his support for in vitro fertilization, which some couples who have a difficult time conceiving a child controversially use to start families.
The former president’s comments went viral on the social media platform X, with a number of pro-life advocates expressing their disappointment with his position:
This is disappointing. Take a stand. https://t.co/lQetzyCVQG
— Kevin Sorbo (@ksorbs) April 8, 2024
Whether an innocent person lives or dies should never be left to popular vote or “will of the people.”
My God. And I mean that as a prayer.
What is the limiting principle on this??
— Liz Wheeler (@Liz_Wheeler) April 8, 2024
The same thing was said about slavery by those who feared outlawing it would hurt them politically. https://t.co/BqxJiI09gs
— Seth Dillon (@SethDillon) April 8, 2024
Abortion is murder.
— Conchrisador (@Conchrisador) April 8, 2024
No Trump we don’t follow the heart we follow the word of God. Abortion is murder. Very weak comment. “The heart is deceitful above all things, And desperately wicked; (Jer 17:9 https://t.co/CW9dHCKaWm
— Lexit (@LexitMovement1) April 8, 2024
In his Truth Social post, Trump referred to any late-term abortion as an “execution.”
Trump’s statement all but dashes the hopes of many pro-life advocates that if elected to a second term he would support a nationwide abortion ban.
