Donald Trump says his goal is cross-party abortion compromise that includes ‘exceptions’  

Former President Donald Trump has spoken about his intention to push for abortion legislation in the US that would get the support of both Republicans and Democrats. 

“I would like to see if we could make both sides happy,” the former president told Fox News Channel’s “MediaBuzz” on 17 March.

The overturning of Roe v. Wade by the Dobbs decision of the US Supreme Court has created a patchwork of often starkly contrasting abortion laws across the continental US – ranging from many red states protecting the unborn starting at conception or once there is detectable heartbeat to some blue states permitting abortion into the third trimester and even up to birth. 

Trump has previously alluded to pushing for a 16-week ban, whereby federal law would supersede state law that permitted abortion later. Although Trump didn’t specifically mention a 16-week ban or respond directly to it being mentioned by the interviewer in the 17 March interview, Trump said he would like to see some sort of middle-ground legislation similar to what is seen in European countries, such as France, and in the rest of the “civilised world”.

While he criticised the “radical” nature of Democrat politicians who support late-term abortions in the seventh month of pregnancy and beyond, he also emphasised the three exceptions to any abortion ban that he would support: instances of rape, incest or if the life of the mother is endangered by a pregnancy. 

Acknowledging the heated polarisation around the issue of abortion, the former president said: “You have to go with your heart, but beyond that you have to get elected and if you don’t have the exceptions, I think it’s very, very hard to get elected”. 

He gave examples of “good” Republican candidates who had run for public office supporting abortion bans without any exceptions and had subsequently lost heavily. 

After the interview, Trump’s campaign released an additional statement:

“As President Trump has stated, he would sit down with both sides and negotiate a deal that everyone is happy with,” spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt said in the statement. “President Trump appointed strong Constitutionalist federal judges and Supreme Court justices who overturned Roe v. Wade and sent the decision back to the states, which others have tried to do for over 50 years.”

LifeNews.com, an independent media agency focused on news that affects the pro-life community, notes that during his term in office, Trump was viewed by many as one of the most actively pro-life presidents in contemporary US history. In contrast, it says, Joe Biden has been labeled as possibly the most pro-abortion president. He has drawn significant criticism from the US Catholic Church, especially given the fact that Biden is a church-going Catholic, who is often vocal about the importance of his faith.

The pro-life news agency suggests that Trump’s optimism about achieving compromise between Republicans and Democrats over an abortion bill does not tally with the political reality in the US, in which abortion may well be the most polarised issue in an already fiercely polarised landscape. 

“Radical pro-abortion Democrats like those in Congress will never settle for anything other than abortion on demand for 9 months,” says LifeNews.com. “They have voted against a 20-week ban and won’t even support protecting babies who survive abortions from infanticide – which makes it incredibly unlikely that they would ever support such a bill.”

According to the New York Times: “Trump has told advisers and allies that he wants to try to turn the issue of abortion into a positive by talking about what he characterises as the ‘radical Democrat’ position of supporting late-term abortions, which are rare, but unpalatable to a significant number of Americans.”

The NYT reports that a 16-week ban would not end many abortions, as nearly 94 per cent of abortions happen before 13 weeks during pregnancy, citing data collected by the Centers for Disease Control.

“I will be coming out with a recommendation fairly soon,” Trump says in the interview. “I think my recommendation will be accepted.” 

(Photo: Screenshot of interview video taken from www.foxnews.com.)

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