Former President Donald Trump claimed on social media on Monday that the pro-life movement had “zero status” until his presidency.
Trump has faced backlash from the pro-life movement for comments he has made in the past regarding anti-abortion activism. Trump spokesperson Steven Cheung told The Washington Post in April that he believed the legality of abortion should be decided at the state level. Pro-life groups criticized the president in January for comments he made blaming pro-lifers who supported “No Exceptions” bans on abortion for Republican losses in the 2022 midterm elections. (RELATED: Pro-Life Dem Launches Presidential Bid Outside Clinic Where Activists Were Arrested)
“Pro lifers had absolutely zero status on the subject of abortion until I came along,” Trump wrote. “For 52 years everyone ‘talked,’ but got nothing. I GOT IT DONE! There would be no talk of a six week ban, or anything else, without me. Roe v. Wade allowed the killing of a baby at any time, including the 5th, 6th, 7th, 8th, 9th month, and even after birth..”
“Before our victory, they had nothing, and they will have nothing again if we don’t win ELECTIONS. Like Ronald Reagan, I believe in the three Exceptions for Rape, Incest, and the Life of the Mother. You have to follow your HEART, but without the Exceptions, it will be very hard to win Elections.”
This is quite the message to the men and women who have devoted their entire lives to ending abortion. pic.twitter.com/EZuuQkb49V
— Mary Margaret Olohan (@MaryMargOlohan) September 25, 2023
Trump has slammed Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who is running against him for the Republican nomination, for signing a six-week abortion ban, calling it a “terrible mistake.”
“He claimed to be pro-life. He spoke at the March for Life and was waxing eloquently about how everybody counts,” DeSantis said in an NBC interview in response to Trump’s comments. “For him to then attack people like Iowa, South Carolina, Florida, all these other states, I thought that was a big mistake.”