Trump's conflicting abortion stances are coming back to haunt him - and his party

Contributing sentiments towards policy:

59% : Pro-life candidates and officials must oppose them.
57% : "Just 24 hours after he said it, we got to see exactly what Trump is supporting by leaving it up to the states," Amestoy said.
55% : "We brought it back to the states, and now lots of things are happening, and lots of good things are happening," Trump said in one video.
54% : On the other, embracing states' rights forces Trump to own the most extreme measures in those states.
53% : That flipped by the time he ran for president as a Republican in 2015, though he initially still praised Planned Parenthood.
50% : "My view is now that we have abortion where everybody wanted it from a legal standpoint, the states will determine by vote or legislation, or perhaps both, and whatever they decide must be the law of the land," Trump said in the video.
48% : "I call upon the Senate to pass this important law and send it to my desk for signing," Trump said as he addressed the anti-abortion-rights March for Life in Washington, D.C.
44% : His campaign later told NBC News that Trump believes decisions should be made at the electoral or legislative levels in the states -- not by the courts.
44% : "Bartlett said that Republicans from Trump on down are trying to "flip-flop, moderate or change into a position that is looking more like the American public" but that it could take more than one election cycle before the party finds its footing.
43% : In recent months, Trump publicly and privately flirted with coming out with a public statement supporting a national abortion ban, listening to a segment of his party that was pushing for such a measure.
41% : Trump, meanwhile, has proudly taken credit for the Supreme Court's knocking down Roe v. Wade, because he nominated the three conservative justices who made it possible.
40% : "It's clear the anti-abortion movement wasn't stopping at abortion -- they're coming after IVF, they're coming after contraception, they're coming after women," she said, demonstrating how Democrats intend to message on the issue between now and November.
38% : Democrats are making sure Trump pays for Roe v. Wade's dismantling, one state at a time.
38% : "In his 4½-minute video, Trump claimed that there was public consensus about the high court's dismantling of Roe even though polling consistently indicates that a majority of Americans favor those federal protections.
35% : The issue has become a centerpiece of President Joe Biden's re-election campaign and one of the few areas in which early polling finds him ahead of Trump.
33% : If Trump thought he was taking the more politically palatable route, he was stung one day later by an Arizona Supreme Court decision that triggered an 1864 law saying anyone who performs the procedure or helps a woman access an abortion could face felony charges and up to five years in prison.
31% : Trump has bobbed and weaved on abortion for the entirety of his political career.
30% : But one of the problems as Trump tries to combat a Democratic messaging juggernaut accusing him of being responsible for every state decision and of threatening a federal abortion ban is that at one time or another, he has supported both.
30% : It is at least the third time -- the others were in Alabama, where a ruling calling embryos children caused in vitro fertilization to come to a halt, and Florida, where a court is allowing a six-week abortion ban to move forward -- that Trump had spoken against local laws or rulings that have emerged since Roe v. Wade was overturned.
30% : "The challenge for Trump and the party is that, regardless of how Republicans handle their individual contests, another controversial state ruling will inevitably pop up that everyone is asked to then take sides on.
29% : By Wednesday, Trump was saying the Arizona court's ruling went too far, but he downplayed the significance, saying that "it'll be straightened out" and that the "will of the people" will prevail.
25% : Trump made a transparently political decision Monday, moving against a part of his party and not speaking in support of a national abortion ban.
24% : Trump also suggested Florida is likely to vote to overturn its new abortion law in November.
22% : On Wednesday, Trump told reporters he would not sign a national abortion ban as president.
20% : Then, signaling he is still muddling through messaging, Trump late Wednesday released two videos about the issue on his Truth Social media platform.
20% : "President Trump could not have been more clear.
16% : On Monday, Donald Trump declared that abortion decisions should be left to the states, a statement he made to tamp down a fervor about his lack of clarity over how he'd handle the issue as president.
13% : Not long after his remarks, the anti-abortion-rights group Susan B. Anthony List, with which Trump had aligned himself, slammed the same ballot efforts in those states -- citing the same "will of the people" phrasing Trump used.

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