How Trump Created a Rift With, and Within, the Anti-Abortion Movement

“I feel like Satan is running his campaign,” said one anti-abortion advocate.

Anti-abortion activists in March for Life 2020.
As Trump vacillates on abortion, his campaign appears to have skipped putting together a “Pro-Life Voices for Trump” coalition this cycle, despite including it in its campaign structure the past two elections. Evan Vucci/AP

There are two camps in the anti-abortion movement: Those who see Donald Trump as a traitor who should not get their vote and those who still see him as their unlikely champion.

The rift in the anti-abortion world is only growing more pronounced. The two sides within the movement are not only publicly arguing with each other, but they’re taking shots at Trump too. And they’re extremely over the 2024 campaign, ready to focus on governing rather than Trump’s vacillating rhetoric on the campaign trail.

“I feel like Satan is running his campaign. I’m like, what is going on?” Abby Johnson, a prominent anti-abortion activist, said. “You don’t get to be pro-abortion and get the pro-life vote, and he is a pro-abortion candidate.”