Posted on 01/27/2016 10:25:06 AM PST by conservativejoy
Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump is facing significant questions from pro-life voters in advance of the first primary and caucus votes next month.And when asked on the campaign trail to provide more specifics about the kind of abortion policies he would implement as president, he declined to give any specifics.
Instead, he repeated what he has say countless times before that he is pro-life on abortion but without providing any further details about what he would do on a myriad of pro-life issues he will face as president - most notably naming judges to the Supreme Court who will determine the abortion policy for the nation for decades to come.
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CNN reports on the Trump press conference where he declined to delineate his abortion position further:
Donald Trump touted the strength of his anti-abortion position during a press conference Tuesday, but dodged questions testing the specificity of those views.
The press conference comes less than a week before Iowa's traditionally conservative Republican voters head to caucus sites and the same day a group of an anti-abortion leaders urged Iowans to oppose Trump's candidacy, suggesting inconsistencies on the issue.
"All I can tell you is this I’m pro-life and I've been pro-life a long time," Trump said Tuesday.
I just don't want to talk about that right now. Everybody knows my views and I think my views are very plain," Trump said.
Addressing supporters following the press conference, Trump conceded that his views on abortion have changed and noted that when he was just a businessman he "never gave it much thought."
"When it comes to pro-life I've evolved," Trump said.
The lack of specifics has already caused a group of leading pro-life women to encourage pro-life voters in Iowa not to vote for Trump next month.
In a letter provided to LifeNews, the group of pro-life women leaders claim Trump is not trustworthy on the abortion issue because offhanded comments he's made make it appear he supports pro-abortion judges on the Supreme Court or a pro-abortion vice-presidential running mate. The group includes heavy hitters like Marjorie Dannenfelser of the Susan B. Anthony List and Penny Nance of Concerned Women for America and black pro-life activist Star Parker.
The letter comes after an op-ed Trump wrote over the weekend outlining his pro-life views on abortion.
Trump opens the column explaining that he is pro-life with exceptions only for the very rarest abortions.
"Let me be clear - I am pro-life. I support that position with exceptions allowed for rape, incest or the life of the mother being at risk," he said. "I did not always hold this position, but I had a significant personal experience that brought the precious gift of life into perspective for me."
Trump said America has gone astray because it has moved away from the founding principles the nation's founders put in most — most notably the right to life.
America, when it is at its best, follows a set of rules that have worked since our Founding. One of those rules is that we, as Americans, revere life and have done so since our Founders made it the first, and most important, of our "unalienable" rights.
Over time, our culture of life in this country has started sliding toward a culture of death. Perhaps the most significant piece of evidence to support this assertion is that since Roe v. Wade was decided by the Supreme Count 43 years ago, over 50 million Americans never had the chance to enjoy the opportunities offered by this country. They never had the chance to become doctors, musicians, farmers, teachers, husbands, fathers, sons or daughters. They never had the chance to enrich the culture of this nation or to bring their skills, lives, loves or passions into the fabric of this country. They are missing, and they are missed.
Abortion is Legal unless you’ve lived under a rock here and this election aint about no damn social issues!
No he hedged he said we should fund the “good things” they do. He can’t bring himself to condemn PP outright. He is playing politics with his conversion on abortion.
Congress could, at any time in the 43 years, remove abortion from the jurisdiction of the USSC. During the Bush years, with a Repub majority, no one but Ron Paul lifted a little finger.
How could congress do that?
They all say they’re pro-life. I happen to like Cruz, but I’m not going into the whole ‘this person is SUPER DUPER PRO LIFE but the other guy is SUPER DUPER AWESOME PRO LIFE’ circular firing squad some Cruz supporters tend to create.
So is Trump more for inversion reform than Cruz? Is Cruz “inversion light”?
That’s how silly this is.
Constitutional Amendment? Congress can start one with a 2/3 vote, but it can’t pass one.
So you think getting a 2/3 majority of Congress and 3/4 of the states is more realistic than getting 5/9 of SCOTUS to overturn a bad ruling?
He won’t take the “Gotcha!” bait, so all the holy Christians immediatly leap on the negative.
I was not referring to any amendment. I was referring to the fact that Congress can strip any topic it chooses from the jurisdiction of the Supreme Court.
Oh yea, sure they can. That whole separation of powers thing doesn't really exist. Just tell SCOTUS to go home, that will work.
By passing a bill, by a simple majority. The pro-life movement has been hoodwinked by the Catholic bishops, Nellie Gray, the National Right to Life Committe, the GOP, etc., etc., into thinking a Constitutional amendment is the only option.
It has been done many times, including in recent years. You seem to glory in your ignorance.
They couldn’t even get a bill to ban abortion after 20 weeks through. And after the obama budget passed by ryan etal who knows what kind of coat tails Trump will have for the GD RINOs in congress. That could be the reason he said he could cut deals with nancy.
Jurisdiction stripping, yea I knew what you were talking about. You are just wrong concerning SCOTUS.
Congress creates and regulates federal courts that are lesser than the supreme court, not the supreme court itself. That would be in the Constitution, give it a read.
You would have a simple majority Democrat Congress pass laws violating any well established right enumerated or otherwise and then immediately prohibit the SCOTUS from hearing any case on the subject.
Reasoned response. Sadly it will go over their heads. Anything to hang their anti-Trump on will do - even though, as you state, the President cannot change what the law currently is -
Trump gave a proper answer. State you’re pro-life and that should end it. The question is used as a diversionary tactic every election year against every GOP candidate and never towards a Dem candidate.
My response would be “Yes, I am pro-life and that settles it! To the inevitable followup question, I’d just tell them to F%$@ Off!
Congress can, by a bill passed by a simple majority, remove a matter from the appellate jurisdiction of the Supreme Court, and has done so many times. Read your Constitution.
Sure, that’s how it works.
Reagan was ALWAYS Pro-Life. Always.
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