Four days after the Supreme Court disallowed a state regulation limiting the availability of abortion, presumptive Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump expressed his outrage during a Thursday appearance on Mike Gallagher's conservative talk show.
“If Scalia was still living or if Scalia was replaced by me,” said Trump, “you wouldn't have had that. It would have been the opposite.”
Although Trump's sentiments did not deviate from his campaign's previously-stated policies, the specific wording nonetheless confused some commentators because the 5-3 verdict meant another vote of dissent would not have been able to directly affect the majority.
The candidate further declared that, under a Trump administration, the Supreme Court's support of pro-life measures would be assured. “You won’t even have to question. You wouldn’t even have to bother going to court. You’re going to know the answers.”
The statements further inflamed pro-choice advocates already concerned that the candidate's dismissive attitude could roll back current protections. According to Planned Parenthood official Dawn Laguens, Trump “will fight to take away the very rights the Supreme Court just ruled this week are constitutional and necessary health care.”
The fiercely-debated case concerned a 2013 Texas law that required abortion clinics be assessed according to the standards ordinarily applied to surgical facilities while doctors conducting the procedure must be granted admitting status by area hospitals. In the years after the legislation was enacted, the number of state clinics offering abortions decreased by half.
Justice Stephen Breyer's majority opinion found “neither of these provisions offers medical benefits sufficient to justify the burdens upon access that each imposes. Each places a substantial obstacle in the path of women seeking a pre-viability abortion, each constitutes an undue burden on abortion access, and each violates the federal Constitution.”
Now that Senate Republicans have vowed to defeat any Supreme Court appointment nominated by President Obama, the question of Scalia's replacement threatens to become a signal battlefield between Trump and Hillary Clinton.
Shortly after the court handed down its decision on Monday, Clinton, the presumptive Democratic candidate, tweeted: “This fight isn't over: The next president has to protect women's health. Women won't be 'punished' for exercising their basic rights.”
Throughout a surprisingly dominant campaign, Trump has been dogged by questions regarding his views on this historically controversial subject. Previously, the candidate's off-handed remarks had intimated that women could face prosecution for procuring abortions should the practice be criminalized.
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