| CNN International | - |
(CNN)
Donald Trump on Friday appeared to again reverse his position on
abortion, arguing that federal laws should not be changed to outlaw the
procedure.
Trump says federal laws should not be changed to outlaw abortion
Story highlights
- Donald Trump on Friday argued that federal laws should not be changed to outlaw abortion
- "At this moment the laws are set. And I think we have to leave it that way," Trump said
(CNN)Donald
Trump on Friday appeared to again reverse his position on abortion,
arguing that federal laws should not be changed to outlaw the procedure.
"At
this moment the laws are set. And I think we have to leave it that
way," Trump said Friday in an interview with CBS's John Dickerson on
"Face the Nation." The full interview will air Sunday morning.
But
soon after the comments became public, Trump campaign spokeswoman Hope
Hicks said Trump was giving "an accurate account of the law as it is
today and made clear it must stay that way now -- until he is president.
Then he will change the law through his judicial appointments and allow
the states to protect the unborn. There is nothing new or different
here."
Trump's campaign has been
engulfed in controversy since Wednesday, when he told MSNBC's Chris
Matthews that women who undergo abortions should face "some form of punishment"
if the procedure were outlawed. He walked away from that statement
within hours amid bipartisan condemnation, saying if abortion was
banned, it would be doctors, not women, facing punishment.
Trump
has articulated an anti-abortion position while surging to the top of
the Republican presidential race. As recently as Wednesday, Trump told
Matthews that "you have to ban (abortion)." In the CBS interview, he
said he "would've liked" for abortion to be decided on a state-by-state
basis.
He also told Dickerson he did not disagree with the view that abortion was tantamount to murder.
Abortion has been legal nationwide since the Supreme Court's 1973 Roe v. Wade decision.
A crucial social issue
The
GOP front-runner's waffling on the matter raises questions about his
authenticity on the crucial social issue and could undercut the support
he has enjoyed among socially conservative and evangelical voters.
The
New York billionaire has consistently proclaimed on the campaign trail
that he is "very pro-life" and "strong on pro-life," but his latest
proclamation puts Trump closer to politicians who believe abortion
should remain legal in the United States.
Trump used to support abortion rights, and said in a 1999 interview with NBC's "Meet the Press" that he was "very pro-choice" and said he was opposed to any abortion bans, including banning late-term abortions.
But
as he courted the conservative base of the Republican Party in recent
years before launching his presidential bid, Trump firmly planted his
flag in the anti-abortion camp.
He
has said that he has "evolved" on the issue and explained that he
changed his view on whether abortion should be outlawed based on one of
his friend's experiences.
"One of
the primary reasons I changed (was) a friend of mine's wife was
pregnant, and he didn't really want the baby. He was crying as he was
telling me the story. He ends up having the baby and the baby is the
apple of his eye. It's the greatest thing that's ever happened to him.
And you know, here's a baby that wasn't going to be let into life. And I
heard this, and some other stories, and I am pro-life," Trump said in a
2011 interview with the Christian Broadcasting Network.
Trump
has repeatedly shared that story on the campaign trail at rallies and
in interviews as he has sought to convince social conservatives and
evangelical voters of the authenticity of his change of heart on the
issue.
And as recently as last
week, Trump suggested that he would consider a judge's abortion views in
considering his nominees for the Supreme Court.
"Yeah,
we're gonna look at that. We're gonna look -- it's gonna be pro-life,"
Trump said at a news conference in Washington last week when asked
whether he would consider a potential nominee's views on abortion as a
litmus test.
The controversy on Friday wrapped up a week in which Trump's campaign manager was charged
with simple battery and the candidate faced renewed scrutiny over his
foreign policy positions. Recent polls also show Trump trailing in
Wisconsin, which holds its GOP primary on Tuesday, as he struggles to
secure the 1,237 delegates needed to win the GOP nomination outright
before the convention in July.
"I
don't know that it's been the worst week in my campaign. I think I've
had many bad weeks and I've had many good weeks," Trump told Dickerson.
"I've had some weeks, and you've been reporting on them, where that was
the end. And then the next week, you see poll numbers where they went up
and everybody's shocked."
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