Leading anti-abortion group calls Trump’s position unacceptable

A leading anti-abortion group on Thursday called it “morally indefensible” of former President Trump to say the issue should be decided at the state level and warned it would not support a GOP presidential candidate who did not back at least a 15-week abortion ban.

SBA Pro-Life America, an influential conservative organization, pushed back after the Trump campaign told The Washington Post that the former president “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.”

Marjorie Dannenfelser, the group’s president, called the campaign’s position “a completely inaccurate reading of the Dobbs decision” and a “morally indefensible position for a self-proclaimed pro-life presidential candidate to hold.”

“Life is a matter of human rights, not states’ rights,” Dannenfelser said in a statement of her own. “Saying that the issue should only be decided at the states is an endorsement of abortion up until the moment of birth, even brutal late-term abortions in states like California, Illinois, New York and New Jersey.”

SBA List said it would oppose any presidential candidate who does not support at least a 15-week abortion ban while allowing states to enact more restrictive bans.

Abortion has proven to be a difficult issue for Republicans to navigate in the wake of the Supreme Court’s decision last June to strike down Roe v. Wade. The issue helped propel Democrats to a better than expected midterm showing, and voters have approved various ballot referendums protecting abortion rights in the nearly one year since the ruling.

Some potential GOP presidential nominees have tip-toed around the issue of abortion. Trump has not laid out a clear view on whether he would support some kind of national legislation restricting abortion.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) last week signed a six-week abortion ban that some strategists believe may ultimately hurt him in a general election if he wins the GOP nomination.

And former Vice President Mike Pence, who is weighing a 2024 bid, has been outspoken and clear about his views, advocating for states to pursue restrictions on abortion and cheering a federal court ruling that invalidated FDA approval for a popular abortion pill.