Michigan governor Gretchen Whitmer hammers Trump over abortion: ‘He’s lied again and again’ | EUROtoday

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One of the Democratic Party’s rising stars was on Donald Trump’s case over what she mentioned had been the “lies” the previous president informed the American individuals for years about his stance on reproductive rights.

The presumed nominee of the Republican Party to tackle President Joe Biden in 2024, Mr Trump launched a video final Monday outlining his (present) stance on the problem of abortion rights. He declined to assist a federal ban, whereas explaining that he believed it was as much as states to set separate and ranging requirements for abortion rights.

Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer joined Sunday’s Meet The Press on NBC and responded to moderator Kristen Welker’s assertion that Mr Trump was “straddling the line” on the problem.

“Well, I believe your phrasing, “straddle the line” is generous. He’s lied. He’s lied over and over again to the people of this country,” said the governor.

“[I]t’s very clear abortion is not just on the ballot in places like Arizona and Florida; it is on the ballot in all 50 states,” Ms Whitmer continued. “[T]he former president has said many different times that he would sign a national abortion ban, and that’s really a very real possibility that would undo all the progress we’ve made in states like Michigan, Ohio, Kentucky, et cetera.”

Her accusation that Mr Trump “lied” to the American people is presumably a reference to his long and winding “evolution” on the issue. Orginally describing himself as supportive of a woman’s right to have an abortion before he entered politics, Mr Trump came out in opposition to abortion rights after he launched his campaign for president in 2015 and sought a political alliance with the evangelical Christian right.

Since then, he has taken credit score quite a few occasions for the appointment of three conservative Supreme Court justices who voted in favour of overturning Roe vs Wadethe Supreme Court case establishing abortion as a federally-protected proper. But he additionally has appeared to at the least flirt with the potential of endorsing a nationwide ban on quite a few events.

Ms Whitmer’s personal re-election got here after she beat a candidate backed by the previous president in 2022; Tudor Dixon, her former opponent, was seen to be on the extremes of the anti-abortion proper. Voters that very same yr permitted a poll measure enshrining reproductive rights into the state’s structure.

Abortion is about to be a serious challenge in 2024 as nicely. States together with Florida and Arizona are set to have poll questions much like Michigan’s abortion rights measure earlier than voters this yr, whereas management of the White House and two chambers of Congress will determine whether or not Republicans have the chance or the political capital to pursue restrictions on abortion on the federal degree.

Democrats have rallied round messaging on the problem and are anticipated to make reproductive freedom a central theme of their 2024 campaigns.