Donald Trump is reportedly set to address an an anti-abortion conference Wednesday, Politico reports. Trump—himself an enraged, bewigged fetus blown up to a nightmarish size—has spent a week shakily walking back comments he made saying women should be punished for having abortions if the procedure was made illegal.
Politico reports that Trump is set to address the 115 Forum by phone, his favorite interview method. That’s an anti-abortion conference set up by Priests for Life, whose national director, Fr. Frank Pavone, once spoke semi-supportively of Trump, despite Trump saying in 1999 that he was “very pro-choice.” Trump’s position on abortion has evolved wildly in the past eight days, after many previous fluctuations between 1999 and 2011.
In a quote to the American Thinker in 2015, Pavone said he wanted to “press” Trump on how he would actually end abortion:
The fact that Donald Trump was once pro-choice but now says he is pro-life should not in itself cause us to doubt the sincerity of that change. Even if one argues that it is politically beneficial and even necessary for him to make that change in order to have a shot at the Republican nomination, it still does not follow that his change of views on abortion is not real and sincere.
I don’t say that because I support Trump’s campaign, but simply because I deal with so many people who have changed their position on abortion. What is necessary to do, in the case of Trump and any other candidate, is to press them not simply on what they ‘believe’ but on specifically what they are willing to do to advance protection of the unborn.
The choice of Roger Stone as an advisor is troubling. Mr. Stone has extremely bad judgment as evidenced by his statement, ‘I think you can be pro-choice and respect life.’ Both Mr. Stone and Mr. Trump need to be pressed on what they are committed to doing to end the inequality, injustice and violence of abortion.
More recently, though, Pavone suggested he’s less impressed with the man:
Pavone has tweeted recently that Trump needs to understand how “ashamed” and “guilty” women who have abortions must feel:
So, this should be an interesting conversation.
Update, 4:20 p.m.: Or not! The Daily Beast reports that Trump very presidentially bailed on the call, by simply not calling in at the scheduled time. A true leader.
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