During an Aug. 24 appearance on NBC News’ “Meet the Press,” Sen. J.D. Vance (R-Ohio), former President Donald Trump’s running mate, said Trump would veto a federal abortion ban. In 2018, during his last term, Trump supported a 20-week abortion ban. During a March radio interview, Trump seemed to support a 15-week abortion ban.
“The number of weeks now, people are agreeing on 15, and I’m thinking in terms of that, and it’ll come out to something that’s very reasonable,” Trump said in a radio interview with Sid Rosenberg on WABC. “But people are really — even hard-liners are agreeing — seems to be 15 weeks, seems to be a number that people are agreeing at.”
This year’s Republican platform, the first since 2016, noticeably softened its language on abortion, explicitly opposing abortion later in pregnancy, but supporting access to birth control, and IVF, leaving legislation of abortion up to individual states.
“Donald Trump’s flip-flop on abortion is a clear sign that he’s learning what we already know — MAGA’s extreme views are deeply unpopular,” said Leah Greenberg, co-executive director with political action group Indivisible, in a recent news release. “As Kamala Harris gains ground, Trump is scrambling to cover up his tracks that led us into this national reproductive catastrophe. … The American people are rejecting his extremism, and no amount of backtracking will save him from that.”
In Colorado’s hotly contested 8th Congressional District (CD8), which mirrors the presidential race in terms of competitiveness closer than any other in the state, U.S. Rep. Yadira Caraveo (D-CO) is facing a challenge from Colorado Rep. Gabe Evans (R-Fort Lupton). And unlike Trump, Evans has remained consistent in his opposition to abortion. In 2022, while running for his Colorado House seat, Evans made his position clear.
“I am running for the house legislature because I want to go into the state capital and weigh in on policies being made in the state,” Evans told former KNUS host Steffan Tubbs. “Unfortunately one of the policies that was passed by the legislature and signed by the governor is the most pro-abortion law in the entire nation HB22-1279 and it basically establishes abortion in the state of Colorado as a fundamental right and I find that ridiculous, not only because I am about as pro-life as they come, but because polling shows that over 70% of Americans, to include Democrats and folks that identify as pro-choice, think that there should be restrictions on abortion. Our out-of-touch leftist legislature here in CO, they just keep pushing further left and passing these radical policies that are just out of touch with the population.”
Earlier this month, U.S. Rep. Mike Johnson (R-LA), who in 2022 co-sponsored federal legislation to ban abortion and has called abortion an “American holocaust,” was the guest of honor at a $500-per-plate fundraiser for Evans.
In February, Evans told the audience at a candidate forum that he opposes a national ban on abortion.
Despite Evans’ claims, pro-abortion legislation and ballot initiatives have shown to be extremely popular with voters. Last year, voters in Vance’s home state of Ohio passed Issue 1, which enshrined reproductive rights in the Ohio Constitution — contraception, fertility treatment, abortion, and miscarriage care — restoring Roe v. Wade-era access in Ohio and protecting “the right to abortion up to the point of fetal viability.” Ohio joined California, Michigan, and Vermont in amending their state constitutions to protect abortion.
In Colorado, abortion rights have proven to be especially popular. In 2008 Colorado saw the nation’s first attempt at a “fetal personhood” ballot initiative with Amendment 48. Kristi Burton Brown, the outgoing Colorado Republican Party Chair, was the sponsor behind that measure, and has built her political career on her anti-abortion stance. Amendment 48, and a 2010 attempt, Amendment 62, were both rejected by voters with over 70% of voters opposed, and did not receive a majority vote in any county in Colorado. Amendment 67, in 2014, was rejected by nearly 65% of voters, and 2020’s Proposition 115, which would have banned abortions after 22 weeks of pregnancy, was defeated with 59% of the vote, after opponents spent $9.5 million to campaign against the measure. In 2022, an attempt to classify abortion as “murder” failed to gather enough signatures to even make it on the ballot.
This November, in addition to choosing the next CD8 representative, voters will also decide on Proposition 89, which would not only change the Colorado Constitution to recognize the right to abortion, it would also allow abortion to be covered under public service health insurance plans for Colorado state and local government employees and enrollees in state and local governmental insurance programs.
