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How Close Is Trump's Abortion Position to What Americans Think?

Rebecca Downs
Rebecca Downs  |  April 09, 2024 5:00 PM

On Monday, former and potentially future President Donald Trump released a video message on abortion, expressing support for in vitro fertilization (IVF), reminding voters of his accomplishments with a pro-life record, and indicating he believes abortion should be left up to the states. The message teased the night before brought on strong reactions from the pro-life and pro-abortion sides. 

As we covered on Monday, pro-abortion Democrats, namely at Biden HQ, are so desperate that they had to lie about Trump's position. Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), who is pro-abortion despite claiming to be "very Catholic," offered as part of her response that Trump "either is stupid or he thinks the rest of us are stupid," as Madeline covered. 

Pro-abortion forces are looking to use Trump's words to motivate their base for November. While abortion isn't a major motivating issue for voters overall, it appears to be for Democrats. Despite President Joe Biden having an edge on this issue over Trump, pro-abortion groups and the Democratic Party are still desperate and ruthless enough to lie about it.

Earlier Tuesday, the Arizona Supreme Court upheld the state's abortion limits, with opponents of that decision also looking to use it as a motivating factor come November and tying it to Trump. 

Pro-life advocates were vocal about Trump not going far enough, however. This includes Live Action's Lila Rose. Pro-lifers mainly took issue with Trump's promotion of exceptions, something he did back in September ahead of the Iowa Republican Caucus, which he won in historic fashion. They also took issue with the former president not offering protections at the federal level for the unborn. 

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Katie also covered how Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America said it was "deeply disappointed."

Regarding federal positions, it's worth noting that back in February, Trump came out in support of a 16-week abortion limit, which is close to halfway through pregnancy. While it enjoys the support of a majority of Americans, pro-abortion Democrats almost certainly won't pass it, and it's unlikely to get through the filibuster in the Senate. As good a year as 2024 looks to be for Senate Republicans, gaining a 60-seat majority is a bit trickier. 

Further, as Trump pointed out in his video message, congressional Democrats can't even be counted on to pass legislation to support babies who are born alive after abortions. "The concept of having an abortion in the later months and even execution after birth. And that's exactly what it is. The baby is born, the baby is executed after birth is unacceptable. And almost everyone agrees with that," he pointed out. That would be "almost everyone" except congressional Democrats.

The mainstream media was full of headlines on Trump facing critics on both sides. His own TruthSocial posts were full of attacks on Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC), who in September 2022 introduced a 15-week abortion limit. It was a move that received strong criticism for being so close to the midterms which did not go as well as Republicans expected, with the abortion issue potentially motivating Democrats. 

While the Biden HQ was busy pushing fearmongering ads and deceptive talking points, RNC Research posted a reminder of how Americans actually do not support the Democratic Party's position of abortion for any reason through all nine months of pregnancy up until birth for any reason with taxpayer funds. 

In May 2022, MSNBC's Steve Kornacki highlighted an AP-NORC poll from June 2021 that showed 65 percent of Americans believe abortion should be illegal in all or most cases of the second trimester, with a plurality, 35 percent, saying "all cases." Just 19 percent said abortion should be legal in all or most cases in the last trimester, with 80 percent saying it should be illegal, including a majority, at 54 percent, who said it should be illegal in "all cases."

More recently, another AP-NORC poll released last July showed 68 percent of Americans believe we should not allow for "Legal abortion 24 weeks into pregnancy," with even a majority of Democrats, 53 percent, saying so. 

A Gallup poll, also released July 2023, shows that while 69 percent of Americans believe abortion should be legal in the first trimester, just 37 percent say so about the second trimester, while 55 percent oppose it. Just 22 percent say so about the third trimester, while 70 percent oppose such abortions. 

The Hill, which was among those outlets putting out headlines about Trump dodging heat from both pro-life and pro-abortion advocates, pointed out in a headline from Niall Stanage's memo, "Donald Trump bets anti-abortion evangelicals have no choice but to back him."

On that note, it's worth pointing out how Students for Life's Kristan Hawkins posted throughout Monday several threads about her thoughts on the matter. Including the group's demands for Trump, how extreme Democrats are on the issue, and more details on polling.

A YouGov poll from last month also found that 55 percent of Americans believe abortion should be "allowed up until a certain time in pregnancy, and restricted after that." This even includes 53 percent of Democrats.

Frank Pavone, the National Director of Priests for Life, praised Trump for his statement. "As I said in my remarks recently at Mar-a-Lago, Donald J. Trump has been, and will be again, the most pro-life president our country has seen. He has not wavered on any of the pro-life positions or executive actions he has taken (including depriving the abortion industry of federal funds), or judges he has appointed, and we will again see such progress in a second term," he noted in part. 

Back in January, McLaughlin and Associates and Priests for Life conducted polling of general election voters that showed support for the pro-life position. A majority of respondents, 56 percent, described themselves as "pro-choice." Close to 32 percent said the statement closest to their view was that "abortion should be legal for any reason, but only up to a certain point in time during the pregnancy." Another question revealed that 29.5 percent of voters believe abortion should be banned and illegal "after the 1st trimester," which is approximately three months of pregnancy, or 13 weeks.

While there are some more nuanced opinions from the Republican Party on the issue, if it educates the American people and figures out an effective messaging strategy, it need not be such a divisive or losing issue.