When Donald Trump on Monday suggested states, not the federal government, should decide the future of abortion access in America, it marked the former president’s latest evolution on the issue. Throughout his lengthy career in the public eye and politics going back 25 years, Trump has found himself on every side of the contentious debate, at times shifting stances seemingly to match the politics of the voters he is trying win over.
The following is a timeline of notable Trump remarks on abortion.
While publicly exploring a presidential campaign leading up to the 2000 election, Trump told “Meet the Press,” “I’m very pro-choice,” suggesting his views were shaped by New York’s liberal politics.
“I hate the concept of abortion,” he said. “But still, I just believe in choice.”
His 1999 remarks would become a focal point of attacks from his 2016 GOP rivals as Trump sought the party’s nomination for president, this time for real. Asked about them at a 2015 debate, Trump said he had “evolved.”
“You know who else has, is Ronald Reagan evolved on many issues,” Trump said.
Trump credited his aboutface to a child born to his friends who “was going to be aborted. And it wasn’t aborted. And that child today is a total superstar, a great, great child.”
As he marched toward the Republican nomination, Trump’s messaging on abortion oscillated between reaching out to general election voters and appeasing skeptical conservative hardliners. Conflicting comments on Planned Parenthood delivered shortly after a dominating Super Tuesday performance illustrated his contortions.
“Planned Parenthood has done very good work for millions of women,” he said. “But we’re not going to allow and we’re not…
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