By Kerry Eleveld for Daily Kos
Daily Kos Staff
Donald Trump can't stop the abortion policy fallout he kicked into high gear earlier this month when he declared states should be the ultimate arbiters on reproductive freedom and the bodily autonomy of pregnant Americans.
In a new interview with Time magazine's Eric Cortellessa, Trump dodged questions about whether he would sign a national abortion ban, okayed the idea of monitoring pregnant women, and revisited the possibility of prosecuting anyone who gets abortion care.
Asked specifically about the prospect of state governments monitoring women’s pregnancies, Trump was indifferent.
"I think they might do that,” he said. “Again, you’ll have to speak to the individual states.”
Ankle monitors for pregnant women? Sure, why not? It's open season at the state level.
"The states are going to make those decisions," Trump said.
Except, of course, when a draconian law generates really bad press that could kill Trump's presidential bid, like in Arizona.
Mere days after he first backed so-called "states' rights" on abortion, Trump began pressuring Republican state lawmakers to do something about their Civil War-era abortion ban that might cost him the 2024 election.
While talking to Time, however, Trump didn't register the same concern about monitoring pregnant women or even punishing people who have abortions.
Pressed on whether he would be comfortable with “states prosecuting women for having abortions beyond the point the laws permit,” Trump responded, “It’s irrelevant whether I’m comfortable or not. It’s totally irrelevant, because the states are going to make those decisions."
Congratulations to Trump for making his 2016 remark that "there has to be some form of punishment" for pregnant Americans who have abortions extremely relevant again.
Trump bobbing and weaving repeatedly on questions concerning reproductive rights brought into relief yet again the peril he faces in unleashing anti-abortion zealots in GOP-led states to fashion the most restrictive, punitive, and life-threatening policies regarding abortion care.
The attack ads practically write themselves: a patient on a gurney getting slapped with an ankle monitor as they are told they are pregnant; a tearful mother flashing back to an ER tragedy as it's revealed that she is sitting behind bars. These scenarios are no longer hyperbole amid Republicans' dystopian regulations on abortion, and they are there for the taking.
Letting the states decide was never the silver bullet Trump and his campaign imagined it would be. He owns all of these state bans now, and the horrors they have unleashed will keep the issue percolating in the presidential contest straight into November.
Trump might be all over the place on abortion, criticizing some laws while claiming state prerogative on others. But the bottom line is: Nothing is off the table, as he very clearly demonstrated in the Time interview.
He might sign a national abortion ban, or not. He might be just fine with pregnant women wearing ankle monitors, and he might watch passively as states prosecute Americans who have abortions—even those undertaken to protect their health, their lives, and their families.
Who knows what will come under a Trump administration. Or as Trump is fond of saying: We'll see.
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