Trump in damage-control mode over abortion backlash from the right
Former President Donald Trump is in damage control mode on abortion after telling NBC News that Florida’s six-week ban is “too short” and declining to take a clear stance on a state ballot measure that would expand access to the procedure.
The backlash from anti-abortion advocates was fierce, with some warning that the Republican presidential nominee was risking losing support from a key bloc of the party’s base.
Alarmed by what she saw, Marjorie Dannenfelser, president of the influential anti-abortion group Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America, called Trump on Thursday to ask for clarity on his comments, according to a source with knowledge of the conversation. Trump told her that he didn’t state a position on an amendment on his home state’s ballot this fall, which would bar restrictions on abortion before fetal viability, around the 24th week of pregnancy.
Dannenfelser told him that “it’s imperative that you’re clear because there’s confusion now that you may be in support of this,” the source added. She also told him the amendment is “incongruent” with his opposition to late-term abortion. [Continue reading…]