Trump’s biggest back and forth

4 minute read

Last week, Donald Trump and Kamala Harris’ debate shook the political realm, with talks of cats and dogs, random tangents and sob stories to distract from questions about bad policy.

Despite the copious amounts of news coverage and memes flooding the internet, the debate pushed many Americans to research for themselves the claims both presidential candidates made during the debate.

The ABC debate moderators commented on former President Trump’s stances on many of the cultural issues and policies former President Trump’s campaign already announced. 

One major example is Trump’s changing opinion on the topic of abortion, which the former president is approaching more moderately in light of the 2022 Supreme Court decision to overturn Roe v. Wade.

In the late 1990s, when Trump still franchised with the Democratic Party, he supported Roe v. Wade, fully approving the federal government’s stance on the issue of abortion while having distaste for the concept of terminating a pregnancy.

“In an interview on NBC News’ “Meet the Press,” Trump said, ‘I am very pro-choice. I hate the concept of abortion … I just believe in choice,’” according to NBC News.

In the ensuing years, however, Trump’s position shifted as he thought about running in the 2012 Presidential Election, which revealed he leaned more into the moral argument against abortion.

“And Trump laid claim to the mantle of conservatism. ‘I am pro-life. Against gun control… I will fight to end Obamacare and replace it with something that makes sense to people in business and not bankrupt the country,’” according to The Atlantic.

For most of 2015 to the summer of 2016, Trump took a moderate stance on abortion, praising Planned Parenthood for the healthcare services it provided women, like cancer screenings, but drawing a hard line at abortion, which was cause for eliminating any federal funding.

“‘Millions of millions of women – cervical cancer, breast cancer – are helped by Planned Parenthood,” Trump said on the CNN debate stage in Houston. ‘I would defund it because I’m pro-life, but millions of women are helped by Planned Parenthood,’” according to CNN.

Trump used his moral hangups against abortion in October 2016 to officially vow to end Roe v. Wade and the federal government’s involvement with abortion. 

This stance was followed by the multiple appointments to the Supreme Court, with the nomination of Neil Gorsuch in 2017, the nomination of Brett Kavanaugh in 2018, Amy Coney Barrett’s nomination in 2020, paired with a 20-week abortion ban passing the House in early 2018 but failing to pass the Senate.

Fast forward from 2020 to the start of summer 2022 when the Supreme Court voted to overturn Roe v. Wade, President Trump praised the Court’s decision and emphasized the issue was rightly returned to the states.

“‘I think, in the end, this is something that will work out for everybody,’ Trump said. He added: ‘This brings everything back to the states, where it has always belonged,’” according to NBC News.

After a lackluster performance for the GOP at the 2022 Midterm Elections, the former president attributed the performance to the current Republican leadership in Congress, who were currently fractured on a stance for the newly overturned Roe v. Wade.

Into 2023 and early 2024, Trump played around with a 15-week minimum abortion ban. Shortly after, Florida passed a six-week abortion ban, which the state’s Supreme Court upheld, but will be ultimately decided on by Florida voters. Trump agreed with Florida’s decision , since the former federal issue is now one of state jurisdiction. 

“‘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, and whatever they decide must be the law of the land,’ Trump said,” according to NBC.

The opinion issued by Trump on the Florida abortion ban is the answer the former president gives every time he is asked about a federal abortion ban.

During the debate, Trump was asked about the government’s role in abortion, when an abortion procedure can take place and whether or not he would sign a national abortion ban if elected president, with the moderators wishing for an answer. Trump replied with the same answer he has been giving since April 2024, the issue belongs to the states, which the former president described as his intention since the summer of 2022.

Voters need to decide this November which candidate  they are willing to cast their vote on for one of the hottest topics in America. Will voters select the candidate who changes stances for moderate voters, or will they cast their vote for a candidate who changes stances to give a contested issue back to the states but still reserve his own opinions, which may change?