Mike Huckabee Defends Donald Trump’s Abortion Conversion: “He is Pro-Life Now”

National   |   Steven Ertelt   |   Feb 1, 2016   |   2:17PM   |   Washington, DC

Is Donald Trump truly pro-life? That’s the question that seems to be most prominent on the minds of pro-life voters heading into tonight’s Iowa caucus. But, for one rival republican presidential candidate, Trump’s conversion to the pro-life perspective on the issue of abortion is genuine.

Here’s how Mike Huckabee, the longtime pro-life advocate, sees it:

Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee, in a Friday interview, defended Donald Trump’s changing position on abortion while attacking Ted Cruz for changing his views based on polling.

Asked on NewsMax Prime why he hasn’t been critical of Trump’s shift from being pro-abortion rights to anti-abortion, the former Arkansas governor said, “The difference is Donald Trump has certainly changed his view on abortion, he is pro-life now, but you know his view evolved over 20 years, not 20 months, or 20 minutes.”

The first indication Trump appears to have publicly given that he is pro-life is a January 2011 interview with Bloomberg News. According to PBS, “Describing himself as “pro-life,” Trump told Bloomberg News in January [2011] that he believes abortion should be banned at some point in pregnancy, with exceptions for rape, incest or life of the mother.”

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That was a marked change from how Trump described himself in his  2000 book The America We Deserve, where he wrote, “I support a woman’s right to choose but I am uncomfortable with the procedures.”

In February 2011, when questioned about his position, Trump responded by saying the public “would be surprised” by his stance and, in an interview with Laura Ingraham from Fox News leading up to the conference, Trump characterized himself as “pro-life.”

Then, Trump explained his conversion at the April 2011 CPAC conference in an interview.

“Evangelicals do want to feel secure that they’re going to have a nominee that’s going to at least be solid on those issues, those social issues. Someone that’s not just going to cut and move on,” Brody said to Trump.

The billionaire responded, “One thing about me, I’m a very honorable guy. I’m pro-life, but I changed my view a number of years ago.”

“One of the reasons I changed — one of the primary reasons — a friend of mine’s wife was pregnant, in this case married. She was pregnant and he didn’t really want the baby. And he was telling me the story,” Trump told Brody. “He was crying as he was telling me the story. He ends up having the baby and the baby is the apple of his eye. It’s the greatest thing that’s ever happened to him. And you know here’s a baby that wasn’t going to be let into life. And I heard this, and some other stories, and I am pro-life.”

“So those stories did change you, they came around and changed you?” Brody asked.

“They changed me. Yeah, they changed my view as to that, absolutely,” Trump responded.

Since his conversion, Trump doesn’t appear to have promoted abortion and continues to say he is pro-life and opposed to funding the Planned Parenthood abortion business. But, last week, when asked on the campaign trail to provide more specifics about the kind of abortion policies he would implement as president, he declined to give any specifics.

Instead, he repeated what he has say countless times before that he is pro-life on abortion but without providing any further details about what he would do on a myriad of pro-life issues he will face as president — most notably naming judges to the Supreme Court who will determine the abortion policy for the nation for decades to come.

The lack of specifics has already caused a group of leading pro-life women to encourage pro-life voters in Iowa not to vote for Trump next month.

In a letter provided to LifeNews, the group of pro-life women leaders claim Trump is not trustworthy on the abortion issue because offhanded comments he’s made make it appear he supports pro-abortion judges on the Supreme Court or a pro-abortion vice-presidential running mate. The group includes heavy hitters like Marjorie Dannenfelser of the Susan B. Anthony List and Penny Nance of Concerned Women for America and black pro-life activist Star Parker.

The letter comes after an op-ed Trump wrote over the weekend outlining his pro-life views on abortion.

Trump opens the column explaining that he is pro-life with exceptions only for the very rarest abortions.

“Let me be clear — I am pro-life. I support that position with exceptions allowed for rape, incest or the life of the mother being at risk,” he said. “I did not always hold this position, but I had a significant personal experience that brought the precious gift of life into perspective for me.”

Trump said America has gone astray because it has moved away from the founding principles the nation’s founders put in most — most notably the right to life.

America, when it is at its best, follows a set of rules that have worked since our Founding. One of those rules is that we, as Americans, revere life and have done so since our Founders made it the first, and most important, of our “unalienable” rights.

Over time, our culture of life in this country has started sliding toward a culture of death. Perhaps the most significant piece of evidence to support this assertion is that since Roe v. Wade was decided by the Supreme Count 43 years ago, over 50 million Americans never had the chance to enjoy the opportunities offered by this country. They never had the chance to become doctors, musicians, farmers, teachers, husbands, fathers, sons or daughters. They never had the chance to enrich the culture of this nation or to bring their skills, lives, loves or passions into the fabric of this country. They are missing, and they are missed.

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