Trump silent on abortion as 2024 campaign pushes forward

In Florida, a DeSantis-backed measure to ban abortion after six weeks of pregnancy — before many women realize they're pregnant — is moving through the Republican-controlled state legislature. Democrats there admit there's nothing they can do to prevent the bill from becoming law, which DeSantis is using to strengthen his conservative bona bides ahead of a formal presidential announcement expected in the coming months.

Former Vice President Mike Pence, another likely 2024 contender who has long promoted religious conservatism, has been one of the GOP's most aggressive anti-abortion voices since the Supreme Court's ruling. On the campaign trail in recent weeks, he highlighted his commitment to go further.

Last month in New Hampshire, a state long known for protecting abortion rights, Pence openly vowed to support a federal abortion ban if elected.

"If I was in the Congress of the United States or in a job at the other end of Pennsylvania Avenue, and they put a policy in front of me to limit abortions in the country, I’d certainly support it,” Pence said in a radio interview. He added that the issue would likely be decided by each individual state, however.

Nikki Haley, who launched her Republican presidential bid a month ago, also believes the issue will be resolved at the state level, despite her personal wishes.

She discussed the possibility of a 15-week federal ban during a February interview on the “Today” show. In a New Hampshire radio interview earlier this month, she reminded voters that she signed into law a 20-week ban while South Carolina governor.

“I can tell you that if it were up to me, every single state would be pro-life,” Haley said. “But I think the people need to decide that.”

South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott, another likely Republican 2024 prospect, celebrated the Supreme Court's Roe reversal last summer with his party. Last fall, he headlined a gala for Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America, which is fighting for a federal ban.

Democrats are closely tracking the Republican White House hopefuls, knowing that aggressive anti-abortion rhetoric and policies will likely alienate key groups of voters — especially swing voters in the suburbs — in the 2024 general election.

“Republicans are not going to be able to hide from their extremist anti-abortion rights agendas in the 2024 presidential election," said Alexandra De Luca of American Bridge, a pro-Democrat super PAC. "American Bridge and the Democratic Party will hammer Republican presidential candidates early and often, making it impossible for whoever emerges to walk back their extremist views during the general election.”

More than his Republican opponents, Trump seems acutely aware of such political risks.

Before the 2022 midterms, he tried to persuade some of his preferred candidates to back off hard-line abortion positions — especially those that opposed exceptions in cases of rape, incest or life of the mother.

In distancing himself from aggressive anti-abortion policies, however, Trump opens himself up to a new set of challenges with religious conservatives.

Already, some evangelical leaders have withheld their endorsement. Trump said such moves are “a sign of disloyalty” in an interview with David Brody of the Christian Broadcasting Network. And he accused anti-abortion leaders of failing to do enough to help GOP candidates in the midterms, which hasn't sat well with some evangelicals.

Bob Vander Plaats, the president of Iowa's Family Leader, said that abortion remains “a character-defining issue” that helps voters determine whether they can trust candidates or not.

So far, he said, it's unclear whether evangelicals can trust Trump in 2024.

“While we’re thrilled that he gave us justices to overturn Roe v. Wade, and we’re thrilled he did other things on abortion, frankly I think there's a big question mark out there,” Vander Plaats said. “Where is he on the sanctity of life? Does he really believe what he says he believes? When he’s pivoting and when he doesn’t want to talk about it and when he throws the pro-life community under the bus, those are all indicators that give us more cause for pause.”

Trump's campaign pushed back against such concerns.

Campaign spokesman Steven Cheung listed Trump's “unmatched” record on abortion, highlighting Trump's Supreme Court nominations, his moves to block taxpayer-funded abortion and his decision to reinstate the “Mexico City” policy that required nongovernmental organizations as a condition of funding not to promote abortion as a family planning method in other countries.

“There has been no bigger advocate for the movement than President Trump,” he said.

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By STEVE PEOPLES AP National Political Writer

Associated Press writers Jill Colvin in New York and Brendan Farrington in Tallahassee, Florida, contributed to this report.

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