Before responding to the Arizona Supreme Court's decision to outlaw most abortions, which he thinks went too far, Republican frontrunner Donald Trump this week stated he believes the issue of abortion should be left up to the states.
As Biden has decided to mainly campaign on abortion, Trump has urged Republicans to avoid supporting bans on the life-ending procedures, though he maintains he is proud that the three Supreme Court justices he nominated voted to overturn Roe v. Wade.
In playing politics, Tessa Cox of Susan B. Anthony (SBA) Pro-Life America thinks Trump is neglecting the basic truth about abortion.
"The politically smart thing to do on the issue of abortion is to not run from it, but to be clear where you stand on the issue," she suggests. "Express the compassionate pro-life view of saving babies and serving women, and contrast that from how extreme the Democrats are on the issue."
On the whole, she says Trump is doing a good job of that. But his insistence on keeping the federal government out of abortion, she adds, is not the way a pro-life president should think.
"A states rights position allows those policies of abortion and in the seventh, eighth, ninth month of pregnancy to continue in states that don't have protections – states like Ohio and Michigan and New York and California, states with extreme laws that allow those policies to continue to exist."
That is why SBA Pro-Life America contends the nation needs to at least limit abortion at and after 15 weeks into pregnancy. Surveys show the public finds that to be reasonable.
