Facing pro-life backlash, Trump flails on abortion – National & International News – FRI 30Aug2024

Facing pro-life backlash, Trump flails on abortion.

Israel agrees “pauses” in Gaza shelling to allow polio vaccinations, while launching massive West Bank invasion

NATIONAL NEWS

Facing pro-life backlash, Trump flails on abortion

Despite having appointed the three Supreme Court Justices who made it possible to overturn Roe v. Wade, former President Trump has sought to create distance between himself and the hardline pro-life movement. Although polls show that support for total bans on abortion throughout the US is low, this committed and well-organized group has nevertheless wielded outsized power in the Republican party for decades. Still, Trump gambled that the hardcore pro-life movement would support him even if he didn’t support their goal of a nationwide abortion ban.

Recent statements from both Trump and his running mate J.D. Vance indicated that if Trump were re-elected, he would not sign a bill banning abortion nationally if one made it to his desk. Trump and most of the Republican party have taken the stance that abortion access should be left to the states. This led to some backlash online from prominent pro-life advocates, but this was largely drowned out by more pragmatic pro-lifers.

However, Trump gave an interview on Thursday saying that the 6-week ban in Florida, his home state, is too restrictive. He also indicated he might be open to voting in favor of a Florida ballot measure protecting abortion access in the state. By weighing in on a state policy, Trump provoked a much greater backlash. Today, he did an abrupt about face and said he would vote against the ballot measure. However, he still maintained that 6-weeks is “too short” a window.

By moderating his tone on abortion, Trump has sought to appeal to independent voters, the vast majority of whom support abortion access. However, with the election likely to come down to a few hundred thousand votes in a handful of states, he also can’t afford to take some of his staunchest supporters for granted, however fringe their views. At the same time, Trump also recently declared he would pus for the government and insurance should cover the cost in vitro fertilization (IVF) treatments, which many pro-lifers oppose.

Click here for the full story (opens in new tab).

INTERNATIONAL NEWS

Israel agrees “pauses” in shelling to allow polio vaccinations, while launching massive West Bank invasion

Recently, there have been concerns about a potential polio outbreak in Gaza after polio was detected in wastewater. A 10-month old infant recently died of the disease, having known nothing but war for his short life. Now, both Israel and Hamas have agreed to pauses in fighting in some areas of Gaza to allow the World Health Organization to distribute and administer polio vaccines to over 600,000 children under 10.

Meanwhile, Israel has launched its largest military incursion in the West Bank in over 20 years. This is a scale of invasion not seen in the territory since the uprising during the Second Intifada. The West Bank is Israel’s largest Palestinian enclave. Unlike Gaza, Israel has maintained an illegal military occupation in the West Bank since 1967. Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad have some allies in the West Bank, but the territory is administered by the more moderate Fatah which has largely collaborated with Israel.

Fears of annexation

Throughout its occupation of the West Bank, Israel has encouraged the building of settlements of Israeli Jews. As of now, there are over 700,000 people living in these settlements. The International Court of Justice recently declared these settlements to be in violation of international law, and also ruled that Israel is committing the crime of apartheid in the West Bank. This is not the first time an internationally-respected organization has issued such findings. Regardless, since Oct. 7, Israeli settlers and the IDF have carried out deadly raids on Palestinian villages in the West Bank, killing over 600 Palestinians in the past 10 months. The goal of these raids is to drive Palestinians off their land, and in some cases, entire villages have been driven out.

Some fear that this latest Israeli invasion of the West Bank is an attempt to drive forward an illegal annexation process. Pro-Israel donor Miriam Adelson (the widow of Las Vegas magnate Sheldon Adelson) recently pledged $100 million to former President Trump’s campaign with one major demand: the recognition of Israel’s annexation of the West Bank.

In his previous term, Trump recognized Israel’s annexation of the Golan Heights (which is Syrian territory) and moved the US Embassy to Jerusalem, recognizing the divided city as Jerusalem as Israel’s capital in violation of international law. This invasion may be Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s attempt to achieve his longstanding goal of seizing the territory before his preferred US candidate can even take office. This is likely to further inflame Middle East tensions in the run-up to the US election.