Originally published at crisis magazine
What Should Be Trump’s Position on Abortion?
Easy answer: Trump, like everyone, should oppose abortion and fight for the legal protection of all innocent human life from conception to natural death.
But he is running for president of the United States. So, in that context, the question should be rephrased: What position should Trump take on abortion—in this election? Is it wrong for him to have “adjusted” his position on abortion? Has he “thrown the unborn under the bus” (as an avid pro-lifer friend of mine has said)?
Orthodox. Faithful. Free.
Sign up to get Crisis articles delivered to your inbox daily
Some think that it would be better for Trump to lose than to abandon the pro-life cause—that it is better to take a principled stand and lose than to compromise on the truth and win. I think that would be disastrous, and a loss for that reason would work in the future to dissuade others from running on a pro-life platform.
Many pro-lifers believe that Trump has betrayed them for these reasons:
Trump opposes a national ban on abortion. He pushed for changes in the GOP platform so that it does not assert the fundamental right to life
