Former President Donald Trump, who is running for office again, was recently asked if he supports Florida’s pro-life law protecting preborn children from abortion after six weeks gestation. The Trump campaign’s response was to argue that states should be able to decide their own individual abortion laws.
“President Donald J. Trump believes that the Supreme Court, led by the three Justices which he supported, got it right when they ruled this is an issue that should be decided at the State level,” Trump campaign spokesman Steven Cheung said in a statement. “Republicans have been trying to get this done for 50 years, but were unable to do so. President Trump, who is considered the most pro-life President in history, got it done. He will continue these policies when reelected to the White House. Like President Reagan before him, President Trump supports exceptions for rape, incest and life of the mother.”
Though abortion has been painted as a losing issue in upcoming elections, the reality is, the majority of Americans support the overturning of Roe when they know what it means, according to Rasmussen polling. The issue largely is that Americans believed that overturning Roe would make abortion illegal everywhere; when explained that it allows states to make their own laws on abortion, the majority of Americans supported it.
And while overturning Roe was a good step in the fight to protect life, it was not enough.
Public opinion is not always a good indicator what law should be. This is made evident throughout history, as majorities of people once supported atrocities such as slavery and genocide. Whatever the situation, slavery, genocide, and abortion are all predicated on the dehumanization of certain human beings based on arbitrary characteristics rather than intrinsic qualities or nature.
Science is clear — preborn children are human beings — and the state in which a mother resides does not change that fact. Their lives deserve to be protected, across all state lines. It is not coherent or pro-life to argue that abortion can be acceptable in certain states, when the taking of innocent human lives is always wrong, regardless of law.
