On Monday, he backed states' rights. Two days later, after Arizona's court verdict, which followed Roe's fall, caused a commotion, he felt the court went too far.
President Trump was crystal-clear. Trump campaign spokesperson Karoline Leavitt said states should "determine by vote or legislation or perhaps both" these issues. Arizona Republicans rejected Democrats' speedy repeal of the law hours after Trump's statements Wednesday. The Republican House speaker accused Democrats of rushing.
At least three times since Roe v. Wade was overturned, Trump has spoken out against local laws or rulings, including in Alabama, where a ruling calling embryos children halted in vitro fertilization, and Florida, where a court is allowing a six-week abortion ban.
Republican strategist Matthew Bartlett said the Alabama and Arizona Supreme Court judgments should be deemed in-kind payments to Democratic super PACs. “It has starkly presented the problem to Republican voters and candidates."
“Voters don’t accept brand new information, but they genuinely believe when you tell them something they already know or think is true," said a Democratic operative in a swing congressional race. In abortion, that's happening. Democrats argue Republicans oppose this right. They've said that your whole life; trust them. Believed by voters.
Christina Amestoy, a spokeswoman for Think Big America, Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker's nonprofit group supporting abortion-related ballot measures in battlegrounds like Arizona, said Trump's statement Monday only increased his connection to the court decision.
"Just 24 hours after he said it, we saw what Trump supports by leaving it to the states," Amestoy remarked. “Arizona just rolled back women's rights 160 years to when doctors didn't know to wash their hands.”
Trump and the party must contend with another difficult state judgment that will require everyone to take sides, regardless of how Republicans conduct their competitions.
“It’s clear the anti-abortion movement wasn’t stopping at abortion — they’re coming after IVF, contraception, and women,” she said, demonstrating Democrats’ messaging strategy until November.
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