Donald Trump attempted to strike a new tone on the issue of abortion this week, saying he would be “great for women and their reproductive rights” — to the frustration of anti-abortion advocates.
Democrats frequently use the phrase “reproductive rights” as a stand-in for abortion but also to refer more broadly to a range of medical practices related to child-bearing, such as birth control and in vitro fertilization. Support for reproductive rights, when invoked by Democrats, almost always means support for access to abortion. In contrast, Republicans rarely talk about abortion in that way, and anti-abortion advocates quickly took notice of Trump’s tonal shift.
Lila Rose, founder of the anti-abortion group Live Action, speaking on her podcast on Friday, criticized Trump for trying to “ingratiate himself with those that are pro-abortion” with his use of the phrase.
“Not only is it not principled, it’s not going to help the Trump campaign to be trying to sound like a Democrat right now,” Rose said.
He’ll say anything if it means he won’t go to jail or get thrown from a window for defaulting on his half a billion in Russian loans. That or it’s the dementia and he can’t remember where he stands on anything.