It’s been three days since the Planned Parenthood video dropped. Every single GOP presidential candidate has responded — by condemning Planned Parenthood, by calling for Congress to defund Planned Parenthood, or even by calling for a 20 week ban on abortion.
Every single one — except for Donald Trump. Why?
Donald Trump has quickly become a conservative hero with his brash speaking style and his willingness to address almost any issue aggressively. He’s been a hard-liner on immigration and foreign policy, but he seems unwilling to tackle the life issue.
Why is that?
Don’t forget — Trump has very little credibility on this issue.
In 1999, Trump told Tim Russert during an episode of “Meet the Press” that he did not support banning partial-birth abortion and that he was “very pro-choice.”
Here’s the video with the transcript:
RUSSERT: Partial-birth abortion. The eliminating of abortion in the third trimester. Big issue in Washington. Would President Trump ban partial-birth abortion.
TRUMP: Well look, I’m, I’m, very pro-choice. I hate the concept of abortion. I hate it. I hate everything it stands for. I cringe when I listen to people debating the subject. But you still, I just believe in choice. And again, it may be a little bit of a New York background because there is some different attitude in different parts of the country, and you know I was raised in New York and grew up and work and everything else in New York City. And I am strongly for choice, and yet I hate the concept of abortion.
RUSSERT: But you would not ban it or ban partial-birth abortion?
TRUMP: No, I would not, I would not, I am, I am very pro-choice in every respect and as far as it goes, but I just hate it.
If Trump has truly had a conversion and become pro-life, as he claims, he needs to step up and condemn Planned Parenthood, call for Congress to defund their entire $500 million per year budget, and support Sen. Lindsey Graham’s ban on abortion after 20 weeks.
If he’s not willing to do that, pro-life conservatives should run away from The Donald as quickly as possible.
Jon Schweppe is Deputy Director of Communications for American Principles in Action.
