Election 2024 Trump
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Anti-Abortion Leaders Say They Are Facing Reality: Trump Isn’t the Ally They Want

Trump’s pledge to veto a federal abortion ban is forcing the anti-abortion movement to reckon with their long-standing fear that the former president isn’t their friend.

Matt Rourke/AP

The biggest news from Tuesday’s vice presidential debate didn’t happen on the debate stage: For the first time, Donald Trump unequivocally pledged to veto a federal abortion ban and said he would not support one “under any circumstances.”

It didn’t take long for anti-abortion activists to say what they’d been fearing for a while now: They don’t have a true ally at the top of the Republican ticket.

“President Trump’s commitment to veto a federal abortion ban is not a pro-life position, but a pro-abortion position that cannot be supported or defended by anyone who is truly pro-life,” said Mark Lee Dickson, an anti-abortion activist who helped pave the way for Texas’ citizen-enforced six-week ban. “This statement by President Donald J. Trump may have just cost him the 2024 election.”