Rattled Trump's abortion U-turn after Christian Right threat

DONALD Trump has been forced to roll back on pro-abortion views after the powerful Christian right threatened to abandon him, leading to almost certain defeat in November’s presidential elections.

The former US leader caused consternation among conservative supporters after suggesting last week that he backed moves to extend the time limit after which abortions would become illegal in his home state of Florida.

“If Trump loses the election, he can look to this day for the reason why“, said one furious Republican insider last night.

Trump is known to have liberal views on abortion.

Yet Christian conservatives cast aside their qualms in 2016 to back him, in the hope his administration would lay the foundation for outlawing abortion across the country.

In the short term it paid off, with the Supreme Court overturning the 1973 Roe v Wade ruling granting women the right to an abortion up until the point of foetal viability, which is about 24 weeks.

Without a federal guarantee, it now rests on states to determine their own abortion policies.

But things have changed over the last eight years, and Trump needs to make up ground after Kamala Harris' late entry into the race.

So-called purple states - where support between Democrats and Republicans is evenly matched and where Republicans believe the abortion issue should be jettisoned in favour of votes - are even more crucial now.

Also in Trump's sights are those women who count reproductive rights as a top issue.

In general terms, women in the US have favoured Democrats in every election since 1980 but Trump, who was convicted last year of sexually abusing advice columnist E. Jean Carroll in 1996, has even more ground to make up.

It is a gamble that may not pay off, however.

“Pro-lifers have been a huge voting block and foundation for the GOP for decades. They brought Reagan into power and they brought Trump to power in 2016,“ added the Republican source.

“Now he is taking this base for granted to get middle voters, But you betray them at your peril.”

Trump's problems don’t end with his U-turn in Florida.

Last week he also said that in-vitro fertilisation (IVF) treatments would be paid for by insurance companies or the government if he returned to the White House, arguing: “We wanna produce babies in this country, right?”

Observers say the move is linked with the unveiling of congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard, the second Democrat after Robert F Kennedy Jr to defect to Trump.

She spoke on Thursday about her own family’s struggle with IVF.

“We were not successful in trying to get pregnant," she said addressing a town hall event in La Crosse, Wisconsin.

"For us, IVF seemed to be the only option and the last resort."

Gabbard's detection has been credited for bringing many centrists and floating voters to Trump's side.

But it gains no traction with the Christian right, which wants to ban IVF because the process discards unused human embryos.

Some key activists have already signaled they can no longer trust Trump unless he and running mate JD Vance display a more radical embracing of the anti abortion agenda.

They include Lila Rose, leader of the prominent anti-abortion group Live Action.

Once a darling of Trump's Oval office, the 36-year-old represents the extreme wing of the anti abortion lobby which believes there are no medical situations in which abortion is necessary to save a woman’s life, and which does not support an exception for rape.

“It’s disappointing to say - but perhaps he personally lacks principle on this issue,” said Rose as she urged her 360,000 followers not to repeat their 2016 vote for Trump.

At the heart of Republican angst is a growing conviction that Trump's gamble will fail.

"Trump is trying to appeal to a very small cohort of voters who are repelled by him," added the insider.

"But these educated suburbian women will not vote for him regardless of his stance on abortion."

They added: "And he is naive to take the votes of conservatives, who know he is a New York liberal who had Hillary Clinton at his wedding, and who only tolerate his rude behaviour and unsportsmanlike behaviour as a means to an end."

Trump is not the only one flip-flopping policy positions, however.

With Harris polling at 49 per cent - a lead of only two points - she has been forced to make a concerted grab for crucial swing states like Wisconsin, Michigan, Georgia, North Carolina, Arizona, and Nevada.

Despite claiming not to have made any policy shifts since being handed the Democratic nomination, she has changed her views on several key issues,

These include shifting from decriminalising illegal border crossings to prosecuting transgressors and resuming construction of the border wall

Other changes include no longer supporting the end of private medical insurance or even fracking on federal land.

Republicans say this masks her true agenda.

"She is the country's most left wing senator , but her radical San Francisco politics just won't wash in swing states lkie Pennsylvania, so has been forced to reverse many of her positions,' said another Republican sources last night.

"This need not have happened. She could have had Pennsylvania in the bag if she had appointed Josh Shapiro as her running mate.

"But Shapiro is Jewish and Kamala's fear of an anti semitic backlash from the the progressive wing of her party - which she belongs to - means she was forced to look elsewhere, and chose Tim Walz instead."