At a Donald Trump event this week in Michigan, a reporter asked the presumptive Republican presidential nominee to comment on Florida’s new six-week abortion ban.
Given Trump’s anti-abortion base, you’d think his supporters would be eager to take a victory lap in celebration of the new restrictions. But they were not. On the contrary, his supporters loudly booed the journalist for daring to bring the issue up. Trump responded by vaguely promising to make “a statement” about abortion “next week.” (Watch below.)
Trump supporters want more abortion restrictions, but they don’t want to talk about them. Perhaps on some level they understand (as Trump seems to) that GOP abortion bans are incredibly unpopular and have hurt Republican candidates ever since the Supreme Court gutted abortion rights in 2022.
Florida may be no exception.
Florida’s ban — and a referendum to effectively repeal it — will put abortion front and center in the state, and nationally, in November. That in itself isn’t enough to win the election for President Joe Biden. But it creates some difficult hurdles for Republicans — which is why Trump fans are booing.
Abortion bans cause great harm
Before we get to politics, it’s important to recognize that on a human level, abortion bans like the six-week one set to go into effect by May 1 in Florida are bad and inhumane.