Trump says Arizona needs to put 'reason' in its abortion law. So, he's pro choice now?

Donald Trump on Wednesday said the Arizona Supreme Court went too far in reviving a 160-year-old law that makes abortion a crime.

During a stopover in Atlanta, Trump called on Democratic Gov. Katie Hobbs and the Arizona Legislature to fix it.

Or, as he put it, “to bring it back into reason.”

So, it’s reasonable now, in Trump's view, to expect that abortion should be legal?

Trump wanted this. Now he wants it to end?

I realize that abortion just became a nightmare for Republicans, now that they’ve gotten what they wanted.

I realize, too, that Trump must be seeing his political life flash before his eyes in Arizona, a key battleground state.

But who is he fooling with all this flipping and flopping and wiggling and waggling on abortion?

Much of Trump’s MAGA voter base is thrilled that Arizona is poised to return to ancient times. This is what they have long campaigned on and prayed about and worked for:

For them a near-total ban on abortion is a dream come true — one made possible by none other than Donald Trump.

Lawmakers could've nixed that 1864 ban

They were ecstatic when Trump’s Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade on June 24, 2022, throwing the issue to the states.

In fact, then-Republican Gov. Doug Ducey and the GOP-run Arizona Legislature took action a few weeks before the Roe ruling, to ensure that the 1864 ban would come roaring back in the event that Trump’s high court reversed Roe.

On March 30, 2022, roughly two months before Roe went away, Ducey and the Legislature enacted the state’s 15-week ban on abortion. In that new law, they took pains to note: “This act does not repeal, by implication or otherwise, section 13-3603.”

ARS 13-3603 is the 1864 law that mandates a two- to five-year prison sentence for any doctor who performs an abortion unless it’s to save the life of the mother.

Some Republicans say they're disappointed

So now, in just 59 days Arizona is scheduled to return to the 19th century — and the guy who made it all possible wants to “bring it back into reason"?

I’m guessing he’s gotten a peek at public opinion polls.

He’s not the only Republican slapping his forehead and muttering, “What have we done?”

Vulnerable Arizona Republicans facing competitive races this summer and fall — people who until Tuesday called themselves “100% pro-life” — are demanding an immediate repeal of Arizona’s near total abortion ban.

But repeal of that archaic law is something Republican legislators could have done when passing the 15-week ban in 2022. Or all of last year. Or anytime before Tuesday’s Arizona Supreme Court ruling that reinstated the territorial law.

But this is exactly what the far right wants

Instead, they left it on the books.

And for that, the heart of the Republican base — voters who sincerely believe that abortion is a sin and a fertilized egg is a baby — is happy.

Consider this response to Tuesday’s state Supreme Court ruling from the conservative Center for Arizona Policy’s Cathi Herrod: “Today’s outcome acknowledges the sanctity of all human life and spares women the physical and emotional harms of abortion.”

Or this, from Marjorie Dannenfelser, president of Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America, who hailed Tuesday’s ruling as an “enormous victory for unborn children and their mothers.”

Or this, from the hard right Arizona Freedom Caucus: “We will not compromise on the core value of cherishing and protecting life. As Republicans, we should be proud of the fact that today the lives of the preborn are more protected than they have been since SCOTUS’ fatally flawed Roe decision more than a half century ago. As Republicans, we should be unashamed in proclaiming the value of life.”

Trump may call for 'reason,' but forget that

Now consider this from Trump, who on Monday said abortion should be left to the states but by Wednesday was saying this particular state’s Supreme Court went too far in reinstating the 19th century ban on abortion.

“Yeah, they did,” Trump replied. “That’ll be straightened out, and as you know it’s all about states’ rights.”

So he’ll presumably approve if — or perhaps I should say when — Arizona voters enshrine abortion as a constitutional right this fall?

Justices who upheld abortion law: Are profiles in courage

“It’ll be straightened out,” he assured reporters, “and I’m sure that the governor and everybody else are going to bring it back into reason and that’ll be taken care of, I think, very quickly.”

So he’s asking Arizona's MAGA Legislature to embrace “reason” and legalize abortion?

“Arizona is going to definitely change,” he continued. “Everybody wants that to happen.”

This abortion ploy will backfire in a big way

Not everybody. Or, within his hard-core base, hardly anybody.

House Speaker Ben Toma, who is running for Congress in a crowded GOP primary in a deeply conservative district, already has signaled that he has no intention of bringing repeal of that 1864 abortion ban to the House floor for a vote.

That should play well for him in the ruby red 8th Congressional District.

You know what won’t, or at least shouldn’t, play well with MAGA voters who sincerely believe that abortion is murder?

Trump’s latest scramble to find the most strategic “pro-life” stance.

Turns out it has nothing to do with the unborn.

Reach Roberts at laurie.roberts@arizonarepublic.com. Follow her on X (formerly Twitter) at @LaurieRoberts.

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This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Trump slams Arizona abortion ban, sounding suspiciously pro choice