The position on abortion, a fundamental factor in Trump's choice of his vice presidential candidate

Trump would opt for a relatively moderate option, knowing the price he would have to pay among his ultra-conservative base.

MADRID, 17 Mar. (EUROPA PRESS) -

The former president of the United States Donald Trump perceives the position on abortion as a determining factor when choosing his running mate to try to revalidate the position in the next November elections, in what the magnate understands as a delicate act of balancing, because if his vice presidential candidate exhibits too radical a stance against the termination of pregnancy, the moderate Republicans he desperately needs to return to the White House could turn their backs on him.

To get an idea, one of the names that has been heard the most in recent weeks, the governor of North Dakota, Kristi Noem - a favorite in an informal poll held at the last meeting of the Republican Action Committee - is extremism. personified in this aspect: your state was one of the first to activate the strict prohibition of the interruption of pregnancy in all cases except that of risk to the life of the mother at the time that the United States Supreme Court revoked the constitutional right to abortion in 2022.

Sources close to Trump assure NBC that the candidate sees the issue of abortion as "quite treasonous." "It can make you trip and break your face," they add before commenting that the magnate probably will not choose anyone who defends the ban on abortion after six weeks," before many women even know they are pregnant, "or is unwilling to discuss specific exceptions".

Noem, in this sense, has come to declare herself an "absolutist" on this issue and defended the regulatory regime against abortion in her state as the "model to follow" for the Republican Party, a position that would practically leave her out of the race. for the Vice Presidential nomination, taking into account that Trump has already drawn up the guidelines of his campaign, much more relaxed in that sense.

Trump is now considering defending the ban on abortion after 16 weeks of pregnancy with three exceptions: incest, rape or risk to the mother's life, according to sources close to his campaign team in comments reported by 'The New York Times'. The tycoon has assured that he likes that period because "it is a round number: four months."

This debate is inserted into one of Trump's few Achilles' heels as far as his most loyal supporters are concerned: his relatively open notion of the right to abortion compared to the general position of the ultranationalist, Christian and evangelical establishment, essential to understand his triumph in 2016.

In 1999, Trump declared himself a defender of the right to choose in comments made to the NBC program Meet the Press. "As much as I hate the idea of ​​abortion, I simply believe in freedom of decision," the magnate went on to say. And although he has since hardened his position, a few months ago he declared "the issue of abortion" as one of the fundamental factors in his party's disappointing performance in the partial legislative elections, the so-called 'midterms', of 2022 .

"Republican voters who had been waiting for decades for the Supreme Court to revoke the constitutional right to abortion saw their wish fulfilled and, then, they simply vanished," he said.

Leaders of anti-abortion organizations such as the president of the Council of Family Studies, Tony Perkins, highlighted this issue in December 2022. "Evangelical and conservative voters admire him greatly but continue to expect from him a concrete vision of the future in this regard," he told the Politico news portal.

The head of another anti-abortion group And Then There Were None, Abby Johnson, protested last year that her organization understands that "those who defend the sanctity of life will not be able to accept any specific number of weeks during which it is acceptable to have an abortion" and that Trump's "disappointing comments leave the way open for pro-life candidates."

However, Trump's victory in the primaries these months has been so overwhelming that several anti-abortion groups seem to have accepted the magnate's provisional line; one that proposes negotiation between organizations as the first way. "President Trump is a leader in seeking consensus on this issue and that is where the nation's position lies," explained SBA Pro-Life America President Marjorie Dannenfelser.

This opinion coincides point by point with what was explained by Trump's Press Secretary, Karoline Leavitt. "As he has been saying for a long time, President Trump wants to meet with all the parties to reach an agreement that satisfies everyone," said Leavitt, who this month vindicated the work done by Trump in recovering the majority during his term. conservative Supreme Court that ended up annulling the 'Roe v. Wade'.

In any case, and less than eight months before the elections, the issue of abortion has already occupied conversations with all his favorite candidates to accompany him on the road to the White House -- and whose names were confirmed by Trump himself to Fox News -- starting with Noem and continuing with South Carolina Senator Tim Scott; Florida Governor Ron DeSantis; former Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy; Florida Congressman Byron Donalds and former Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard.

After these conversations, none of the possible candidates, not even Noem herself, have given a clear answer about their position on abortion facing 2024. "We have to talk about this issue," the governor told NBC via a statement, "with compassion and heart, because women on both sides have very clear opinions on the matter.

Democratic strategists consulted by NBC declared in this sense their hope that the magnate will end up giving in and nominate extremists like Noem or Scott. "For us it would be a day of celebration. That the number two of a candidate had to express himself every day about the politics of abortion would make our lives much easier," they stated.