Today marks two years since the three Supreme Court justices nominated by Donald Trump helped overturn Roe v. Wade and restrict the right to abortion care for women across the country. Since the fall of Roe, Trump has praised the ruling and said it was working well despite extreme Republican state legislatures across the country passing draconian abortion bans.
Earlier this year, Trump showed his desire to go further in restricting reproductive rights, saying he was “looking at” restrictions to birth control, the morning-after pill, and other forms of contraception. Trump leaned on the reproductive health chaos he unleashed at the state level by supporting the overturn of Roe, saying, “We are also, you know, things really do have a lot to do with the states. And some states are going to have different policies than others.”
Donald Trump has floated multiple anti-abortion zealots as potential picks as his vice president:
- Doug Burgum signed a near-total ban on abortion as governor of North Dakota with no exceptions for rape or incest.
- Ben Carson supported a national abortion ban.
- Byron Donalds supported a national abortion ban.
- Marco Rubio supported several national abortion bans as recently as 2021.
- JD Vance announced his support for a national abortion ban in 2023.
- As a presidential candidate, Tim Scott said “our immediate priority” should be passing a national abortion ban.
Trump also proposed multiple anti-abortion extremists as cabinet leaders in a second administration:
- As a presidential candidate, Vivek Ramaswamy said he didn’t believe the federal government had the authority to codify Roe and that he was open to a federal abortion ban.
- Lee Zeldin, a potential administration official in a second Trump term, supported a national abortion ban.
- Tom Cotton said he would support a constitutional amendment banning abortion and claimed a fetus had constitutional rights.
- Kevin McCarthy, a potential chief of staff in a second Trump administration, voted for a national abortion ban.
- John Ratcliffe, who was rumored to be returning to a second Trump administration, voted for a national abortion ban.
Even Trump’s RNC Platform Committee is led by anti-abortion zealots:
- Russell Vought and Ed Martin were chosen as the policy director and deputy policy director of the RNC’s platform committee.
- Vought was known as Trump’s most anti-abortion cabinet member and was behind Trump’s policy to eliminate abortion providers from the Title X program.
- Vought was also tasked with leading Project 2025, which seeks to enforce the Comstock Act, outlaw mifepristone, and increase surveillance of abortion and maternal mortality reporting in the states.
- Martin was a lawyer for Americans United for life where he worked to restrict access to contraceptives. He was also the founder of the anti-abortion group Missourians United for Life and has led the Republican National Coalition for Life since 2013.
Published: Jun 24, 2024