In the wake of the Supreme Court’s overturning of Roe v. Wade, abortion has once again been thrust to the forefront of national politics, and it is likely to be a key issue in the 2024 presidential election.
On both sides of the issue, advocates are grounded in personal convictions that may appear impossible to reconcile. For those who identify as “pro-choice,” the choice to abort an unwanted child is considered a right that all women should enjoy. But for those who identify as “pro-life,” the procedure presents a violation of the most fundamental right of all—life.
A Bridge Too Far
In his controversial interview with NBC’s “Meet the Press” last month, President Trump pledged that, if elected president again, he would sit down with those on both sides of the abortion debate to find a limitation on the procedure that would “make people happy.”“We’re going to agree to a number of weeks or months or however you want to define it,” he said. “And both sides are going to come together and both sides—both sides, and this is a big statement—both sides will come together. And for the first time in 52 years, you’ll have an issue that we can put behind us.”
However, according to abortion advocate Merle Hoffman, “There really can’t be any consensus.”
As the founder, CEO, and president of the New York-based Choices Women’s Medical Center—one of the country’s first abortion clinics—Ms. Hoffman is a vocal proponent of legalizing abortion “on-demand” nationwide. Her clinic performs thousands of abortions each year. Even so, she said she works to make all options available to her pregnant clients.
“I didn’t think I could really call my facility ‘Choices’ if I didn’t provide prenatal care operationally,” she told The Epoch Times. “Because there were women that would come in and would say, you know, ‘I’ve changed my mind,’ or ‘I’m not sure’ … I thought to myself, ‘If I call myself ‘Choices,’ I have to offer that.’”
While Ms. Hoffman said she has personally tried discussing abortion with the pro-life demonstrators who gather outside of her clinic, at the core of the debate is a fundamental disagreement that can’t be bridged.
“The driving force [for the pro-life movement] is that abortion is murder,” she said. “And it’s murder because the fetus is innocent—that’s why they can support capital punishment … Innocence is a prime value for them.”
That view isn’t shared by abortion proponents, and that disconnect presents a challenge to anyone who might try to facilitate negotiations between the parties.
In fact, the impossibility of compromise on the issue appears to be one of the few matters on which the two camps agree.
Trump’s “Art of the Deal” persona might work when it comes to taxes or inflation-fighting policy, Ms. Hawkins, said, but not when it comes to abortion.
Backlash
Ms. Hawkins’s op-ed, entitled, “Hey, Donald: You can’t ignore the human rights issue of our time and still get our vote,” was written in direct response to President Trump’s comments, which sparked controversy among his largely pro-life base.In that same NBC interview, he not only criticized his fellow Republicans for taking a hardline stance on abortion but also sideswiped Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis for signing a law prohibiting abortion after six weeks’ gestation—a milestone at which the unborn child’s heartbeat is usually detectable by ultrasound.
“I think what he did is a terrible thing and a terrible mistake,” the former president said.
Those comments also drew the ire of Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America President Marjorie Dannenfelser, whose organization has been supportive of the 45th president in the past.
With the 2024 presidential race well underway, the backlash could be damaging to President Trump’s chances of reclaiming the White House.
However, according to Frank Pavone, national director of Priests for Life and co-chair of Pro-Life Voices for Trump, pro-life voters who would abandon the candidate over his recent remarks are “overreacting.”
“I mean, some of my pro-life colleagues have simply not been in his camp to begin with and haven’t paid as close attention to all the speeches he’s given on abortion,” Mr. Pavone told The Epoch Times. “But when you put it all together, I think what he is saying is pretty simple to understand.
“He said we can’t at this point have a national political candidate polling for a nationwide five-week limit. He says he doesn’t think that people are ready for that yet—that doesn’t mean he doesn’t think we should get there.”
The former priest, who also serves on President Trump’s faith advisory board, was defrocked by the Catholic Church late last year over his political activism and social media posts that the Vatican described as “blasphemous.”
Undeterred, Mr. Pavone has remained an outspoken supporter of the former president—even in light of his recent abortion-related statements.
“He has said in multiple, multiple speeches every child, born and unborn, is made in the sacred image of God,” Mr. Pavone noted. “He believes that, and so do the pro-life leaders who disagree on legislation.”
While President Trump has not backed any such legislation yet, Mr. Pavone stressed that he has also not shied away from his pro-life accomplishments but rather continues to tout himself as the “most pro-life president” in history.
And in many respects, his record supports that description.
Not only was he the first sitting president to attend the annual March for Life in Washington, but he was also responsible for nominating three of the five Supreme Court justices who voted to overturn Roe.
Shaping the Race
For both Democrat and Republican voters, abortion has become a key issue in determining where to place their support.Democrats are even more decided on the issue, with 84 percent identifying as pro-choice and 15 percent as pro-life, leaving just 1 percent unaligned with either camp.
Still, it’s clear that those terms—pro-life and pro-choice—carry different meanings to different voters.
Among Republicans, two-thirds (66 percent) say that abortion should be illegal in most cases, save for certain circumstances, while nearly a quarter (24 percent) believe it should be illegal in all cases—no exceptions. Just 8 percent say abortion should be legal in all instances.
Meanwhile, 60 percent of Democrats—a clear majority—say abortion should be legal under any circumstances, no questions asked.
Even so, about one-third (34 percent) of Democrats believe some limitations should exist, and another 4 percent say the procedure should be banned completely.
Those are the votes that President Trump is likely aiming to swing with his promise of compromise. And according to Ms. Hoffman, the current political atmosphere could be conducive to such a shift.
“There’s a lot of people that are very uncomfortable with [President Joe] Biden because of what’s discussed about his age, etc., and there are a lot of people who are uncomfortable with [Vice President Kamala] Harris,” she said. “And they may—if abortion is not the tremendous driving first issue—they may think about voting Republican. You know, it’s a possibility.”
While abortion continues to rank among the top two issues for Democrat voters, Ms. Hoffman feels President Biden has “not been strong at all” in his defense of the procedure.
“He’s been president for four years,” she said. “I mean, he could have codified Roe. There was an opportunity. He didn’t do that; he didn’t get rid of it.”
The Hyde Amendment, passed in 1977, bars the use of federal funds to pay for abortion, with the exception of situations involving rape, incest, or medical emergencies. President Biden, a longtime supporter of the law, denounced it amid his first presidential run in 2019.
But despite the incumbent’s unpopularity and what she views as a shaky abortion stance, Ms. Hoffman said she thought it unlikely that many Democrats would be swayed by President Trump’s conciliatory rhetoric.
“I don’t think he’s going to get many people to sign on,” she said, adding that in her view, his comments seemed to be aimed less at Democrat contenders and more at drawing support away from Mr. DeSantis.
“DeSantis is the one he’s really trying to move out. And DeSantis, he’s the leader of the six-week ban.”
Nonetheless, evangelical Christians, who have tended to hold strongly pro-life views, make up a significant portion of his base. He won 76 percent of the white evangelical vote in 2020, according to Edison Research exit polls. If he were to lose that support, it could mean the difference between victory and defeat in the general election.
Mr. Pavone, offering some guidance for the candidate as he moves forward, said: “I would advise, you know, obviously, being aware of the sensitivities of the pro-life movement to these kinds of statements. And I would say, don’t let the political battle obscure your pro-life principles.”
A meeting with pro-life leaders, he added, would be “extremely helpful” in reassuring them of where President Trump stands.
“But I think he’ll do more than enough to clarify his remarks as this campaign goes on,” he said.