{"id":2218046,"date":"2024-04-11T03:36:02","date_gmt":"2024-04-11T07:36:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/on-abortion-donald-trump-goes-the-way-of-stephen-a-douglas\/"},"modified":"2024-04-11T03:41:56","modified_gmt":"2024-04-11T07:41:56","slug":"on-abortion-donald-trump-goes-the-way-of-stephen-a-douglas","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/on-abortion-donald-trump-goes-the-way-of-stephen-a-douglas\/","title":{"rendered":"When it comes to abortion, Donald Trump follows the path of Stephen A. Douglas"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">28<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fon-abortion-donald-trump-goes-the-way-of-stephen-a-douglas%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2218046&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>Former President Donald Trump advocates for state autonomy in abortion regulation, opposing federal\u200b legislation. By \u200caligning \u2063with popular \u2063sovereignty over \u200dmoral principles,\u200c he diverges from pro-life ideals.\u200d Trump\u2019s stance mirrors historical debates on slavery, raising concerns about the implications of differing state \u2063laws on \u200babortion. \u2064This \u2062approach \u200cmay shape the future of abortion policy\u2063 in the United\u200d States.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><\/p>\n<p><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><\/p>\n<div class=\"article-content\">\n<p>Former President Donald Trump declared this week that abortion should be left to the states, that there should be no <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/catastrophe-to-women-pelosi-promises-federal-abortion-legislation-says-texas-law-creates-vigilante-bounty-system\/\" title=\"\u2018Catastrophe To Women\u2019: Pelosi Promises Federal Abortion Legislation, Says Texas Law Creates \u2018Vigilante Bounty System\u2019\">federal abortion legislation<\/a> because \u201cthis is all about the will of the people,\u201d and \u201cwhatever they decide must be the law of the land.\u201d He <a href=\"https:\/\/truthsocial.com\/@realDonaldTrump\/112235238031827342\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">released a video<\/a> stating his position on Monday and <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/TPostMillennial\/status\/1778092073423430142\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">reiterated it later in the week<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>By taking this stand, that abortion should not be a federal issue, Trump has not just betrayed his pro-life supporters but taken the side of Stephen A. Douglas over Abraham Lincoln. He has insisted that popular sovereignty, not moral principle, should decide the abortion question, just as Douglas insisted popular sovereignty in the new federal territories must decide the slavery question.<\/p>\n<div class=\"fdrlst__b89e9-paragraph-2-long d-flex justify-content-center\" style=\"margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center; \" id=\"fdrlst__b89e9-14109052\">\n<div id=\"div-gpt-ad-1379703300879-0\" class=\"mb-30\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"fdrlst__b89e9-6c144821b8d242e9ff29749a1372568e fdrlst__b89e9-paragraph-2\" id=\"fdrlst__b89e9-6c144821b8d242e9ff29749a1372568e\"><\/div>\n<p>In practice, that means a patchwork of abortion laws across the country, at least for now, ranging from near-complete bans in some red states to unrestricted abortion until birth in some blue states. But it will not stay this way.<\/p>\n<p>As Lincoln understood about slavery back in the 1850s, the eventual political consequences of tolerating abortion in some states will be the acceptance of it in all the states. (We\u2019ve already seen this with the abortion referendums in Kansas and Ohio, with more referendums on the way.) Moral neutrality on abortion \u2014 Trump\u2019s \u201cpopular sovereignty\u201d approach \u2014 will weaken the foundation for legal prohibition and open the way to tolerance and eventually political acceptance.<\/p>\n<p>Because of the first principles at stake here, the logic of America\u2019s antebellum slavery debate applies entirely to the abortion debate of our time. Indeed, the two issues are closer than even most pro-lifers realize. Today\u2019s Democrats <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2022\/06\/24\/why-democrats-oppose-emancipation-for-the-unborn\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">view abortion just as antebellum Democrats viewed slavery<\/a>. They think the constitutional rights of an entire class of people (women) depend for their vindication on the denial of <em>all<\/em> rights to another class of people (the unborn). This is precisely what southern Democrats believed about blacks and slavery, and why they were so adamantly against emancipation. <\/p>\n<p>But the two issues are alike in another way as well: They both represent a grave danger to freedom itself and the survival of our republic. In the runup to the Civil War, Lincoln argued over and over that slavery wasn\u2019t just bad for slaves but also bad for free men and ultimately for republican self-government.<\/p>\n<div class=\"fdrlst__b89e9-468000b2ab130aca3c04d9bc8044dae3 fdrlst__b89e9-paragraph-6\" id=\"fdrlst__b89e9-468000b2ab130aca3c04d9bc8044dae3\"><\/div>\n<p>The whole issue hinges, in Lincoln\u2019s view, on how we conceive of the right of self-government. Namely, what is its foundation, and what are its limits? Lincoln thought Douglas\u2019 construal of self-government \u2014 that one group of men could enslave another, so long as they voted on it \u2014 was deeply flawed. He said it amount to this: \u201cThat if any <em>one<\/em> man, choose to enslave <em>another<\/em>, no <em>third<\/em> man shall be allowed to object.\u201d <\/p>\n<p>Such a view of self-government eventually leads to its ruin because it posits every majority as an unlimited sovereign and therefore as a potential tyrant. Part of preserving freedom and self-government, said Lincoln, was recognizing its inherent limits. There are some things not even a majority can impose, like slavery. \u201cWhen the white man governs himself \u2026 and also governs another man, that is more than self-government \u2014 that is despotism.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>As most Americans now recognize, Lincoln was right and Douglas was wrong. And like Douglas, Trump is wrong today. Moral neutrality on abortion in our time is like moral neutrality on slavery in Douglas\u2019 time. It might seem politically savvy, a way to thread the needle on a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/scotlands-first-minister-nicola-sturgeon-resigns-over-controversy-related-to-trans-policies\/\" title=\"Scotland's First Minister Nicola Sturgeon Resigns Over Controversy Related to Trans Policies\">seemingly intractable issue<\/a> for the sake of building a coalition, but ultimately, it\u2019s a recipe for tyranny and anarchy. If the unborn are Americans who have a right to life, as some states maintain, then that right cannot simply be waived because majorities in other states want to deny them that right.<\/p>\n<p>Obviously, this means abortion must be banned in every state or eventually allowed in every state. Politically, though, that\u2019s an unappealing prospect, which is why Trump\u2019s \u201clet the states decide\u201d approach to abortion probably <em>is<\/em> the most politically savvy course \u2014 for now. It certainly is the most expedient. As my colleague David Harsanyi <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2024\/04\/10\/democrats-dont-want-you-to-know-how-moderate-trumps-abortion-stance-is\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">pointed out<\/a>, President Biden and his lackeys in the corporate press were reduced to attacking Trump this week not for his moderate position but for his inconsistency. (Never mind the media\u2019s nonchalance about Biden\u2019s own much more dramatic reversals on abortion.)<\/p>\n<div class=\"fdrlst__b89e9-55cedce574acb96101f11dc543931d3a fdrlst__b89e9-paragraph-10\" id=\"fdrlst__b89e9-55cedce574acb96101f11dc543931d3a\"><\/div>\n<p>By taking credit for overturning <em>Roe v. Wade<\/em> but rejecting any federal restrictions on abortion and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/democrats-go-on-offensive-over-abortion-as-gop-splits\/\" title=\"Democrats take a strong stance on abortion as Republicans divide.\">letting states decide<\/a> the question, Trump can direct attention instead to the radical position of Biden and the Democrats, which is far outside the mainstream of American opinion on the issue, and present himself as a moderate, which he is \u2014 no pro-lifer seriously believes Trump cares all that much about the abortion issue as such.<\/p>\n<p>But the danger of taking what amounts to a morally neutral or indifferent view of abortion is that it reduces it to just another political issue subject to the whims of the electorate. Abortion is more than that, though. It cuts right to the heart of our understanding of democracy and self-government \u2014 which, as Lincoln said, must have limits, or it becomes despotism. If one person can snuff out the life of another, and no third person is allowed to object, then in what sense do we have self-government? Democratic practice, after all, must be rooted in the principle of human equality. There are some things even a majority cannot justly decide to do, and to deny that is to open the way to tyranny.<\/p>\n<p>In the end, Trump\u2019s attempt to thread this needle, to choose the politically savvy route over what is right and just, might well prove to be as savvy as Douglas thought he was being with his retreat to \u201cpopular sovereignty\u201d on slavery. But as Douglas found out (and Trump might soon find out) moderation on a question of first principles only goes so far, especially when you\u2019re trying to court people who insist that the rights of an entire class of people must be denied to vindicate the rights of another. Douglas thought he could compromise with the slave power, but instead he set in motion the Civil War. Trump, using the same flawed logic, thinks he can compromise with the pro-abortion power.<\/p>\n<p>He\u2019d be better off following Lincoln, who knew that America could not continue forever divided between slave states and free states, that we would \u201cbecome <em>all<\/em> one thing or <em>all<\/em> the other.\u201d<\/p>\n<div class=\"fdrlst__b89e9-16d3de7766a7a9269fc34893253da402 fdrlst__b89e9-after-post-content\" id=\"fdrlst__b89e9-16d3de7766a7a9269fc34893253da402\"><\/div>\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator\">    \t\t\t\t\t   \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Former President Donald Trump recently stated that abortion should be determined by individual states, emphasizing the importance of the people&#8217;s will in shaping abortion laws. In a video released on Monday, he reiterated his stance, opposing federal abortion legislation and advocating for decisions to reflect the majority&#8217;s beliefs<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":518,"featured_media":2218047,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/Lincoln-Douglas.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[546],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2218046","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-federalist"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/Lincoln-Douglas.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2218046","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/518"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2218046"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2218046\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2218047"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2218046"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2218046"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2218046"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}