There was a rising star in the Democratic Party who spoke out against Donald Trump for what she called the “lies” he told the American people for years about his views on abortion rights.
As the likely Republican candidate to run against President Joe Biden in 2024, Mr. Trump put out a video last Monday explaining his (current) views on abortion rights. He didn’t agree with a federal ban and said that he thought it should be up to the states to make their own rules about abortion rights.
Gretchen Whitmer, the governor of Michigan, went on NBC’s Meet The Press on Sunday and responded to moderator Kristen Welker’s claim that Trump was “straddling the line” on the subject.
“Well, I believe your use of the term “straddle the line” is kind. He told a lie. “He has lied to the people of this country many times,” the governor said.
At this point, Ms. Whitmer made it clear that abortion was on the ticket in all 50 states, not just in Arizona and Florida. “The ex-president has said many times that he would sign a national abortion ban. That is a very real possibility that would undo all the progress we’ve made in states like Ohio, Michigan, Kentucky, and others.”
She probably meant to say that Mr. Trump “lied” to the American people about his long and complicated “evolution” on the problem. Before he ran for office, Mr. Trump said he supported a woman’s right to have an abortion. But when he started his campaign for president in 2015, he came out against abortion rights and tried to make a political deal with the conservative Christian right.
As a result, he has claimed many times that he was responsible for choosing three conservative Supreme Court judges who voted to overturn Roe v. Wade, the case that made abortion a constitutional right. But on many occasions, he has also seemed to at least hint at the idea of supporting a national ban.
For her own re-election, Ms. Whitmer beat a candidate backed by the former president in 2022. Tudor Dixon, who ran against her, was seen as very anti-abortion. In the same year, voters passed a bill that added reproductive rights to the state’s constitution.
There will still be a lot of talk about abortion in 2024. This year, voters in Florida, Arizona, and other states will be asked to decide on questions similar to the abortion rights measure in Michigan. At the federal level, Republicans will have the chance and political capital to try to limit abortion if they control the White House and two chambers of Congress.
Democrats have agreed on how to talk about the problem, and reproductive freedom is likely to be a big part of their campaigns in 2024.
