President Trump Will Make Efforts To Overturn Roe V. Wade And Allow States To Ban Abortion

President Trump has never been one to mince words, and when speaking to the gatherers at the 2018 March for Life, he made it clear that he is against abortion, in spite of his previous views of years past. Though 49 percent of Americans, according to a 2017 Gallup poll, support abortion, Trump wants his administration to be instrumental in overturning the historical ruling of Roe v. Wade so that each state will then be allowed to decide whether or not to ban abortion.

The president told the crowd that the abortion laws were too permissible as the United States is one of seven states that allow for late-term abortions (after 20 weeks). He went on to say the law was “wrong” and that it “needed to change.” Trump has left little doubt that eradicating abortion is high on his list of priorities as a January 19 fact sheet from the White House outlined the steps his administration has already taken toward what he hopes to be an eventual overturn, including signing “H.J. Res. 43 into law, overturning a midnight regulation by the Obama Administration, which prohibited States from defunding certain abortion facilities in their federally-funded family planning programs.”

During his speech via videolink to the March for Life crowd, Trump urged the Senate to pass the Pain Capable Unborn Child Protection Act, a bill that would prohibit abortion after 20 weeks of pregnancy. The bill has already passed the House of Representatives, and should it pass the Senate, President Trump will sign the bill into law, according to the letter he sent to pro-life leaders in September 2016.

Earlier in the day, Trump declared January 19 to be the “National Sanctity of Life Day,” a point which was driven home during his speech when he declared that his administration “will always defend the very first right in the Declaration of Independence, and that is the right to life.”

Trump is standing fast in his determination to eliminate Roe v. Wade, an effort that could be helped by his appointment of Neil Gorsuch, who is notably pro-life, to the Supreme Court earlier this year. In addition, the president has vowed to appoint even more federal judges who oppose abortion.