It’s four months.” Trump and his allies see this as a compromise position, because it’s stricter than Roe v. “Know what I like about 16?” he reportedly said. Sixteen is, apparently, just a pleasing number. To unpack the 16-week proposal a little: The number is biologically arbitrary, for it bears no relation to fetal viability, as some state limits do. And just as important, by making the conversation about gestational limits, Trump and his allies would distract voters from the far more expansive goals of dedicated abortion opponents. It would put some distance between himself and the hard-liners in his orbit, while helping him appeal to more moderate voters. Trump doesn’t want to say anything official about a 16-week ban, the report said, until he’s clinched the nomination, to avoid turning off any hard-core primary voters who favor a total ban.Ĭonor Friedersdorf: The strongest case against Donald TrumpĪfter that, embracing a 16-week limit could benefit him in the general election. Some of Trump’s most important allies-including evangelical leaders and policy advisers-emphatically support a total ban, a position that Trump knows is poisonous. Last week, The New York Times reported that Trump has expressed support for the idea of a national ban on abortions after 16 weeks of pregnancy except in the case of rape or incest, or to save the mother’s life.Īnti-abortion activists, of course, don’t think such a restriction goes far enough. Trump seems eager to be the Republican who can turn this loser of a political issue into a winner.Īnd we’ve just gotten a peek at how he plans to do it. He blamed the “abortion issue” for his party’s disappointing showing in the 2022 midterms, and he recently blasted Florida Governor Ron DeSantis’s support for a six-week abortion ban. Sign up for The Decision, a newsletter featuring our 2024 election coverage.ĭonald Trump has made no secret of the fact that he regards his party’s position on reproductive rights as a political liability.