The 15 most critical lines from Donald Trump's abortion statement

Here we go.

On Monday morning, Donald Trump put out a four-minute video via Truth Social aimed at making his stance on abortion clear.

The main takeaway: He would not sign on to any national abortion ban as president and instead preferred that each state work things out as it sees fit.

This position pissed off the pro-life community — as Trump knew it would. It was also upstaged almost immediately by a decision from the Arizona state Supreme Court that reinstated an 1864 law that effectively bans virtually all abortions in the state.

Asked Wednesday whether the Arizona court went too far, Trump said this: “Yeah, they did ... It's all about states’ rights ... Arizona is going to definitely change. Everybody wants that to happen. And you're getting the will of the people.”

Which, what? I thought each state got to decide what was best for it? Also, Republicans in the Arizona state legislature blocked Democratic attempts to repeal the law on Wednesday.

So, given that….

a) Trump’s position on abortion has, er, evolved, over the years

b) Democrats believe this is the silver-bullet issue of the 2024 election

c) What Trump says matters

…I thought I would go back to Monday’s video and take it line-by-line, breaking out everything he said for you to see. (I will admit I didn’t watch the whole video initially. I just read the headlines.)

Normally I do this with Trump’s speeches and media interviews. But with an issue this critical — and one Trump is desperately trying to run away from his party’s base on — I thought I should give it the deep dive treatment.

If you want to watch the whole thing yourself, it’s here.

To the lines!

1. “Under my leadership, the Republican Party will always support the creation of strong, thriving and healthy American families.”

This all sounds good! Who can stand agains this? Away we go!

2. “We want to make it easier for mothers and families to have babies, not harder. That includes supporting the availability of fertility treatments like IVF in every state in America.”

This could be a tough sell for Trump after the Alabama Supreme Court, controlled by Republicans, ruled that frozen embryos can be considered children — a decision that drew national attention and concern from the IVF community about the viability (and legality) of their work. Trump quickly came out and distanced himself from the ruling. The Alabama legislature and governor signed a law protecting IVF. But, politically speaking, I wonder if the damage was done.