In a newly-dropped transcript of Donald Trump’s recent interview with Time Magazine, the disgraced one-termer opens up on his views about abortion. In Trump’s trademark noncommittal style, he essentially supports any decisions a state makes in regard to bodily autonomy and abortion access while remaining personally disengaged from the consequences. Explaining that it’s up to individual states to negotiate “deals” around the bodies of pregnant people, Trump stated that: “every legal scholar, Democrat, Republican, and other wanted that issue back at the states. You know, Roe v. Wade was always considered very bad law.” Which…is not strictly true, according to Time’s own fact-checking process.
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Essentially the overturning of Roe places Trump in an ideal nonpartisan position: he neither has to speak in favor of abortion rights or specifically against it. There’s just one glaring problem: abortion access and bodily autonomy are not nonpartisan issues. They’re everyone’s issue.
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As journalist Jessica Valenti explained, Trump’s silence speaks volumes in this interview. Whether or not Trump is “comfortable” with the individual decisions of states regarding Roe, he’s against a federal law that would keep abortion legal in all 50 states.
It’s a more diplomatic take than “grab her by the p*ssy,” but it’s not far off from that sentiment.
In regards to mail order abortion pills like mifepristone, Trump stayed silent, stating that he would releasing his “pretty strong views” about the Comstock Act, which would make such pills inaccessible through mail, in the next week.
In the past, Trump has been wishy-washy about his stance on abortion, while the politicians he chooses to surround himself with remain staunchly anti-choice. So whether or not we get those very strong views on record in the next week, it feels clear that Trump will not be sticking out his neck any time soon to defend the right of pregnant people to choose what happens to their bodies.