Anti-abortion groups moving — reluctantly — toward Trump

150921-trump-ap.jpg

Anti-abortion groups that steadfastly opposed Donald Trump are coming around — though not with great enthusiasm.

The thawing of relations comes as the Trump camp has made moves that anti-abortion leaders view as potentially promising that he will champion their causes if he becomes president. On Tuesday evening, the presumptive GOP nominee pledged to appoint “pro-life” judges, his clearest and most prominent effort to date to tap into one of the highest priorities of anti-abortion voters.

In addition, Trump’s recent decision to hire Sen. Thom Tillis’ chief of staff John Mashburn, a prominent opponent of abortion, was widely praised among anti-abortion groups. They saw it as a sign that Trump wants people around him who understand their issue, and that he can offer a clear contrast with Hillary Clinton, a long-time supporter of abortion rights.

“As unpredictable as Donald Trump is, Hillary Clinton is completely predictable,” said Penny Nance, CEO and president of Concerned Women of America. “We have no question about where she is on these issues.”

Nance was among the prominent women leaders who signed a letter in January asking Republican primary voters to select “anyone” but Trump. They’ve expressed concerns about his past support for abortion rights, as well as some off-message comments he made, and then retracted, about punishing women who end their pregnancies. Now they are giving him another look — and also making clear that they expect him to live up to his recent commitments.

Marjorie Dannenfelser, president of the Susan B. Anthony List and another signer of the January letter, says she’s relying on Trump’s pledges to defund Planned Parenthood and support a ban on abortion after the 20th week of pregnancy.

“With pro-life majorities in both chambers [of Congress], our movement has never been closer to achieving such important policy goals. The White House is the missing piece,” she wrote in an op-ed headlined “The Pro-Life Case for Trump” on the conservative site Townhall.com. “And if Donald Trump is elected president, we expect fidelity to the commitments he has made during the campaign.”

Advocates of abortion rights pounced on Trump’s “pro-life” judges pledge as the latest in a long list of disrespectful comments he has made about women, previewing a message that Clinton and her allies are likely to repeat through the campaign.

“For the first time in our history, [we have] a presumptive presidential nominee saying he wants to nominate a justice who would rule a specific way on a specific case,” said Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.).

“Women can’t trust Donald Trump” said Dawn Laguens, executive vice president of the Planned Parenthood Action Fund. “Donald Trump goes on sexist rants that demean and disrespect women, and backs it up with a policy agenda that is dangerous and ignores the very real issues women face in this country.”

In contrast, anti-abortion leaders view Mashburn’s appointment as policy director as a particularly positive sign, said Charmaine Yoest, former president of Americans United for Life.

“John Mashburn comes from the pro-life community. He’s definitely committed,” she said. “When you put someone in the policy director spot who is a movement conservative, that speaks volumes.”

Still, few in the anti-abortion movement are enthusiastically rallying for Trump. But the idea of opposing likely Democratic nominee Clinton energizes them.

For disillusioned anti-abortion voters, the choice isn’t whether to vote for Clinton or Trump. It’s whether to vote for Trump or stay home.

“He has my vote but there are a whole bunch of people whose vote he hasn’t secured,” Nance said, referring to evangelical voters who want their candidate to be serious about ending abortion.

The anti-abortion leaders aren’t alone in contending with whether they could support the brash real estate mogul and trust his conservative bona fides. But Trump’s stance on abortion has been particularly problematic.

He is a recent convert to the anti-abortion cause; he called himself “very pro-choice” as recently as 1999. He hasn’t fully explained his beliefs or the policies he wants to enact. He has fumbled when talking about punishing women who have had an abortion and the “very good work” Planned Parenthood has done — statements that are near-blasphemy to people who oppose abortion. Until Tuesday evening, he also hadn’t gone into much detail about the judges he would support — even though the Senate and the White House are in a particularly bitter deadlock over the successor to the late Antonin Scalia.

Supreme Court appointments are a top priority for both sides. Anti-abortion groups hope the court will overturn its 1973 Roe v. Wade ruling that outlined a constitutional right to an abortion.

Trump’s comments Tuesday evening were the furthest he has gone to pledge to nominate “pro-life” justices.

“I will protect it,” he said in response to a question on the sanctity of life. “The biggest way you can protect it is through the Supreme Court and putting people on the court. Actually the biggest way you can protect it, I guess, is by electing me president.”

That pledge, immediately circulated by anti-abortion groups, is viewed as an olive branch to anti-abortion voters. They’re now anxious to see Trump’s list of potential Supreme Court nominees — a list that he is said to be working on with the Heritage Foundation and the Federalist Society, both groups that anti-abortion groups view positively.