Trump’s New Stance on Abortion

To the Editor:

Re “Abortion Should Be Left to the States, Trump Says” (front page, April 9):

In his statement on Monday, former President Donald Trump seemed to be trying to forge a middle ground on the question of whether abortion should be legal. He failed. His problem is that it is simply not possible.

Either you believe — as most people do — that the procedure, at least in the early to middle stages of pregnancy, should be for the woman herself to decide, and should therefore be legal; or you believe that it is a form of murder, as is held by some, in which case it should be banned across the board.

To illustrate the point: In the matter of the murder of a living person, would we leave it up to each state to make its own decision? The answer is clearly no.

A half-century ago, when I was serving as national P.R. director for Planned Parenthood, we faced this problem. Our Washington director at the time, Jeannie Rosoff, made a public statement to the effect that there is no middle ground when it comes to discussing the legality of abortion.

What she said then remains true today. Sorry, Mr. Trump, good try, but it doesn’t work.

Robin Anthony Elliott
Yonkers, N.Y.

To the Editor:

I find the online headline of an April 8 news analysis, “On Abortion, Trump Chose Politics Over Principles. Will It Matter?,” puzzling, as it seems clear that any instance in which Donald Trump were to choose a principle other than his own perceived self-interest — should there be such a case — would be vastly more newsworthy than the day-in, day-out reports of his efforts to influence by deceit.