One Thing Trump's Not Flip-Flopping About: His Supreme Court Would 'Unpass' Roe

One Thing Trump's Not Flip-Flopping About: His Supreme Court Would 'Unpass' Roe
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On almost any given issue, Donald Trump has taken contradictory positions: He has said he wants to lower, raise and abolish the federal minimum wage, cut and raise taxes on the wealthy, completely pay off the national debt and default on the debt. And those are just a few of his most recent flip-flops.

As he's done on nearly every policy question, Trump has shifted his stance several times on abortion rights: Labeling himself "pro-choice," then "pro-life"; calling for "some form of punishment" for women who have abortions, then saying he opposes any such a punishment; insisting that abortion laws should be left the way they are now, then saying abortion laws must be changed.

But if Trump has been consistent on one thing, it has been that he intends to appoint judges to the federal bench who will further conservative causes, including the cause of overturning Roe v. Wade.

In a meeting with televangelist Pat Robertson in February, Trump vowed to appoint "pro-life," "very conservative" justices in the mold of Clarence Thomas and the late Antonin Scalia, whom he called "a perfect representative" of the kind of judges he'd nominate. Most recently, he told Bill O'Reilly that he'd like to see his judicial appointees overturn Roe.

Trump vowed to only nominate Supreme Court justices from a list of recommendations drafted by the Heritage Foundation, the right-wing group led by former Sen. Jim DeMint, a zealous opponent of abortion rights.

Trump himself has said that Roe created a "culture of death" in America, and told Robertson's Christian Broadcasting Network that he wants to see the decision "unpassed."

And that's coming from the candidate who doesn't seem to understand the basic legal issue behind the Roe decision or even how the judicial system works.

Indeed, anti-choice groups are confident that Trump will appoint judges who will uphold anti-abortion state laws, such as the recent rash of state laws intended to regulate abortion providers out of existence, and ultimately overturn Roe, which will open the floodgates to states banning abortion outright.

He has hit the campaign trail with outspoken abortion rights opponents like Phyllis Schlafly, Ann Coulter and Robert Jeffress, a Southern Baptist pastor who once referred to 9/11 as God's punishment for legal abortion. Mark Burns, a pastor who frequently opens for Trump at campaign events, has attacked abortion rights as "the genocide of black people."

The presumptive GOP nominee has also pledged to sign bills that ban abortion after 20 weeks of pregnancy and defund Planned Parenthood unless the organization stops providing abortion care.

While there may be many ambiguities about Trump's other political positions, he has not equivocated on his promise to appoint ultraconservative jurists to the bench, including the Supreme Court justices who, if given the chance, could overturn Roe.

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