Trump is betraying pro-lifers on abortion pills | Opinion

Battles have been raging in the courts over access to mifepristone, the abortion pill widely used in medication abortions and increasingly available through the mail. For pro-life states, expanded access to the drug has created a major enforcement problem, allowing women to obtain abortions online even where state laws heavily restrict or outlaw the practice.

Most surprising in all of this is that the Trump administration seems increasingly apathetic to the pro-life side of the argument and, in many ways, appears content to let it fail in the courts. The political liability of forcefully defending pro-life policies seems to outweigh how much Trump personally cares about the issue.

The Trump administration has been letting pro-lifers down for some time, but its failure to meaningfully assist states seeking to enforce their abortion laws represents an especially serious betrayal.

The Trump administration hopes the courts will sort this out

In 2023, the Biden administration lifted requirements that patients obtain mifepristone in person, allowing the abortion pill to be distributed through the mail. As a result, even in states that have outlawed abortion, women can still access the drug online with relative ease. Abortions can therefore continue occurring in pro-life states despite legal bans, while state officials face an extraordinarily difficult task in enforcing those restrictions.

The Trump administration could update this guidance at any point, but it has instead chosen to stall, claiming it needs more time to review its policies. At the same time, the administration has sought to dismiss certain legal challenges brought by states attempting to prevent their abortion laws from being circumvented, effectively preserving the status quo of widespread mifepristone access.

In practice, the Trump administration is refusing to take a clear position on the matter. Rather than directly confronting the political controversy surrounding abortion, it appears content to let the courts or other institutions resolve the issue, sparing itself the political fallout of more aggressively advancing pro-life policies.

The Food and Drug Administration is reviewing its guidance on mifepristone, but there appears to be no clear timeline for when that review will conclude. Compounding pro-life frustrations, the administration has also failed to fully comply with congressional requests for information on the matter, leaving some Republicans increasingly restless over what they see as deliberate delay.

The result is that pro-life states are largely being left to fend for themselves. Their primary legal recourse has been to challenge existing FDA guidance on procedural grounds. But in light of the Supreme Court’s decision allowing mifepristone to remain available through the mail, those cases offer far less immediate relief than direct federal action would. For now, the administration’s inaction continues to leave states struggling to enforce their own abortion restrictions.

The Trump administration is no longer actively pro-life

Pro-life states can no longer count on this administration to help enforce their abortion laws. While the administration’s posture in these cases may seem contradictory to those outside the internal rifts of the Republican Party, the broader reality is becoming increasingly clear: Trump’s team has been steadily moving away from the pro-life movement because it views the issue less as a moral priority than as a political liability.

Remember, President Donald Trump and other Republicans broadly blamed abortion for their lackluster midterm performance in 2022. To be sure, that was part of the reason, but it also came alongside a slate of lackluster candidates handpicked by Trump – a point the administration has largely ignored. Since then, the Trump administration has been far less willing to go to bat for pro-life policy, instead seeking to opt out of that arena entirely.

Worse still was Trump’s decision to place Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a longtime supporter of abortion rights, in charge of the FDA, the agency responsible for federal guidance on drugs like mifepristone. The result is an agency unlikely to take an aggressive role in restricting abortion access, even in states that have outlawed the practice.

While there are certainly pro-lifers within the Trump administration, Trump himself has never been a true believer. For him, pro-life policy often comes second to political calculation and personal popularity. The ones left paying the price are pro-life conservatives – and, most importantly, the unborn.

Dace Potas is an opinion columnist for USA TODAY and a graduate of DePaul University with a degree in political science.