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Eight years ago, in his 2016 run for president, Donald Trump said that women who have abortions should be criminally charged. “There has to be some form of punishment,” Trump said at the time. The comment caused a firestorm and his campaign walked it back within hours. It marked one of the few times that Trump recanted.
But as he mounts another run for president, both Trump and the anti-abortion movement that’s supported him now feel unrestrained. In an interview Time published Tuesday, the former president said that he would not stop states from prosecuting a woman for having an abortion. “It’s irrelevant whether I’m comfortable or not,” he told Time‘s Eric Cortellessa. “It’s totally irrelevant, because the states are going to make those decisions.” Trump further said he would also not interfere with states that may decide to monitor pregnant women, gathering information that could aid such prosecutions. It’s a chilling vision of a future surveillance state for women in a second Trump presidency.
A lot has changed since 2016. Trump feels liberated, not only from both traditional checks on presidential power, but from what is considered acceptable politically. With that, his boundary-pushing has become more extreme. The anti-abortion movement, too, is embracing extreme positions that it had sworn off of before Roe v. Wade was overturned. Today, with a friendly Supreme Court, the movement is pushing extreme abortion bans that endanger women’s lives. In a sign of how far the anti-abortion movement is willing to go, state bills are popping up that would authorize murder charges for women who obtain abortions. Moreover, the idea of fetal personhood, which is accelerating in many states, would hand prosecutors a legal basis to go after women who get abortions—even when medically necessary. As Trump made clear to Time, under him, the federal government would not try to stop any of this.
Officially, Trump has flip–flopped on whether he would sign a nationwide abortion ban: in his interview with Time, he hedged by saying that one would never reach his desk. But he would not promise to veto a ban, and unrestrained in a second (and, as the Constitution mandates, presumably his last) term, there’s no logical reason he would not.
Trump could also ban abortion in every state by enforcing the Comstock Act, a 19th Century anti-obscenity law that bans mailing “every article or thing designed, adapted, or intended for producing abortion, or for any indecent or immoral use.” Trump’s rightwing allies have already drawn up plans to enforce Comstock to ban abortion by barring the shipment of relevant medical supplies; it could also be used to ban some forms of contraception.
Trump, teasing a coming attraction, told Time that he would be making an announcement about his plan for the Comstock Act in the next two weeks:
Do you think women should be able to get the abortion pill mifepristone?
Trump: Well, I have an opinion on that, but I’m not going to explain. I’m not gonna say it yet. But I have pretty strong views on that. And I’ll be releasing it probably over the next week.
Well, this is a big question, Mr. President, because your allies have called for enforcement of the Comstock Act, which prohibits the mailing of drugs used for abortions by mail. The Biden Department of Justice has not enforced it. Would your Department of Justice enforce it?
Trump: I will be making a statement on that over the next 14 days.
You will?
Trump: Yeah, I have a big statement on that. I feel very strongly about it. I actually think it’s a very important issue.
He’s right that this is an important issue, and it is one that could sway votes. Whatever announcement he makes, it’s clear that his allies want to ban abortion nationwide—and that Trump has little appetite for interfering in the radical project of banning abortion, surveilling women, and prosecuting them.
Back in 2016, Trump knew instinctually that the anti-abortion movement was moving toward punishing women, but he didn’t yet know that it was taboo to say it out loud. Now, he—and they—can speak much more freely. Imagine what they would say if he wins a second term.
