Silence from major news outlets helps Trump conceal his position on medication abortion
More than two weeks have passed since Donald Trump told an interviewer that he would reveal whether he supports banning the use and distribution of drugs used in medication abortions “over the next week or two.” But the major cable and broadcast newscasts and most influential newspapers seem to have moved on, according to a Media Matters review of their coverage.
This lack of media interest allows the presumptive Republican presidential nominee to stay silent and avoid angering either the general public, which supports medication abortion, or his anti-abortion supporters, who desperately want it ended.
While Trump regularly takes credit on the campaign trail for ending Roe v. Wade’s protections for abortion rights through his Supreme Court appointments, he has largely avoided commenting on how far he’ll go to limit those rights if he returns to the White House.Trump’s allies want him to go very far indeed. Project 2025, the far-right agenda that the Heritage Foundation assembled with input from anti-abortion groups, calls for curtailing medication abortion — which accounts for more than 60% of abortions in the U.S. — by reversing federal approval of the abortion drugs mifepristone and misoprostol and enforcing the 1873 Comstock Act’s ban on the mailing of such medications. Right-wing activists are also seeking to limit access to the drugs in the courts and in state legislatures.
Trump himself had avoided commenting on these policies, which are wildly unpopular — a recent poll found more than 7 in 10 Americans say they support women obtaining medication abortion from their doctor or a clinic. The former president’s views have remained elusive in part because he typically stays within the bubble of his right-wing sycophants, who are more concerned with propping up his campaign so he can get elected and curtail abortion rights than forcing him to take a public position that might lead to his defeat. His campaign, meanwhile, maintained strategic silence, refusing to answer questions on the subject from journalists.In a rare opportunity by a mainstream reporter to get Trump on the record, Time magazine national politics reporter Eric Cortellessa used a pair of interviews last month to try to get Trump to reveal whether his administration would seek to cut off the drugs used for the majority of American abortions.
But Trump, who is infamous for responding to questions about major policy initiatives by promising to provide details in “two weeks,” punted both times. When Cortellessa pressed him for his views on mifepristone and the Comstock Act during an April 12 sit-down, Trump told him a “big statement” on the subject was coming “over the next 14 days.” Then, when Cortellessa followed up in an April 27 phone interview, noting that the promised announcement had not materialized, the former president said one would be forthcoming “over the next week or two.”
Major media outlets are helping Donald Trump conceal his position on the Comstock Act.
He gave a promise that he’ll say something in “two weeks”, but he has blown that promise.
His allies, especially those linked to Project 2025, want him to endorse a medication abortion ban.
JUST SOME THOUGHTS! I don’t really like the “go from the top up” advice on drapery/clothes - if you’re having difficulty try it like this!
YES I see the typo… I’m so sorry folks… I was in a frenzied rush to make this…… and I’m too lazy to fix it……
