The 45th President of the United States is lurking. Challenged by public opinion which remains favorable to the right to abortion and the publication of articles questioning the anti-abortion legislation which spread after the end of the Roe v. Wade – who enshrined a constitutional right to voluntary termination of pregnancy – the Republican candidate knows that he is walking on hot coals. The subject, always very mobilizing, could play a preponderant role in the outcome of the presidential election.
Since the start of his campaign, the New York businessman has sent contradictory signals, clumsily trying to reconcile a radically “pro-life” electorate and a more moderate electorate, reluctant to tolerate an extreme program on this issue. At the same time, the Harris-Walz camp is trying to keep up the pressure by making this subject a major issue.
An illegible guideline
Where does Trump stand on abortion? It is difficult to answer this question with certainty as the Republican candidate hesitates: if he remains very proud of having appointed judges who dared to reverse the historic decision Roe v. Wade (which judges appointed by Reagan and GHW Bush did not dare to do in 1992), he is much more hesitant about his strategy. A supporter of a federal ban beyond sixteen weeks in February, the ex-president finally reversed course in April, preferring to maintain the current pattern, in which each state decides its policy.
If the candidate of the Grand Old Party appears so hesitant and, ultimately, very illegible, it is because the equation presented to him is very complex. On the one hand, he must retain voters for whom intransigence regarding abortion is a red line. On the other hand, to win, he will have to gather as much as…
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