Donald
Trump changes his line on abortion, again, saying 'laws are set'
In
a CBS interview, just days after saying women should face
‘punishment’ for abortions, the Republican frontrunner has made a
new contradictory statement
Ben Jacobs
Saturday 2 April
2016 02.24 BST
Donald Trump made
yet another contradictory statement on abortion on Friday, saying he
supported the current legal status quo on abortion rights.
The latest statement
comes just two days after he reversed himself on whether women who
undergo abortions should face “some kind of punishment”.
The Republican
frontrunner told CBS’s John Dickinson in an interview: “The laws
are set now on abortion and that’s the way they’re going to
remain until they’re changed.” He went on to say: “I would’ve
preferred states’ rights.”
“I think it
would’ve been better if it were up to the states. But right now,
the laws are set ... At this moment, the laws are set. And I think we
have to leave it that way.” Abortion has been legal in the US since
1973.
In a statement to
the Guardian, a campaign spokesperson insisted “Mr. Trump gave an
accurate account of the law as it is today and made clear it must
stay that way now – until he is President. Then he will change the
law through his judicial appointments and allow the states to protect
the unborn. There is nothing new or different here.”
The flip comes after
Trump stumbled on Wednesday when asked by MSNBC’s Chris Matthews
during a town hall about whether women who have abortions should be
punished. The comments which caused an uproar from all sides of the
political spectrum forced a speedy clarification from Trump.
In a statement
shortly after the MSNBC comments, Trump insisted that “if Congress
were to pass legislation making abortion illegal and the federal
courts upheld this legislation, or any state were permitted to ban
abortion under state and federal law, the doctor or any other person
performing this illegal act upon a woman would be held legally
responsible, not the woman. The woman is a victim in this case as is
the life in her womb. My position has not changed – like Ronald
Reagan, I am pro-life with exceptions.”
Abortion has long
been an issue where conservatives have been skeptical of Trump.
Despite his current pro-life stance, the Republican frontrunner
described himself as “pro-choice in every respect” in a 1999
interview. Trump described his change of heart on the subject in the
first Republican debate in August. He said then “friends of mine,
years ago, were going to have a child, and it was going to be
aborted. And it wasn’t aborted. And that child today is a total
superstar, a great, great child. And I saw that. And I saw other
instances.”
Trump’s latest
statement on abortion comes only days before Wisconsin holds its
primary. The Republican frontrunner currently trails Ted Cruz in
polls of the state.
Sem comentários:
Enviar um comentário