Pro-abortion Republican Bill Weld launched a long-shot primary challenge Monday against President Donald Trump.
A former Massachusetts governor, Weld ran for vice president as a libertarian in 2016. Earlier this year, he changed his party affiliation back to Republican, a move that many suspected was a sign he would run, according to the Boston Globe.
On Monday, he announced his plan to challenge Trump, saying six more years with the Republican president would be a “political tragedy,” Vanity Fair reports.
“It is time to return to the principles of Lincoln — equality, dignity, and opportunity for all,” Weld said in a statement. “There is no greater cause on earth than to preserve what truly makes America great. I am ready to lead that fight.”
Later, he added, “I would be ashamed of myself if I didn’t raise my hand and run.”
Though fiscally conservative, Weld supports abortion on demand. In 2016, he told Bloomberg Politics that he does not think the government should restrict abortions in any way.
When asked if he would allow restrictions on partial-birth abortions, Weld replied: “A bunch of men in Washington making decisions about what some woman in Peoria is going to do about the most intimate of her decisions? No.”
Most news outlets acknowledged that Weld’s chances of beating Trump are extremely unlikely. Even one of Weld’s advisers, Stuart Stevens, admitted his campaign is a “long shot,” too.
But his pro-abortion position may be more of a problem for voters than mainstream media outlets would suggest. Most Americans strongly oppose abortions without restriction. A recent national poll by Marist University found that a majority of Americans oppose late-term abortions. Similarly, a May 2018 Gallup poll found that 53 percent of Americans oppose all or most abortions.
In contrast, Trump has fulfilled many of his campaign promises to pro-life voters. Many pro-lifers who were skeptical of his past pro-abortion stance have been pleasantly surprised by his administration’s efforts to protect the unborn.
Earlier this year, the Trump administration implemented a new Title X rule that cut $44 million in tax dollars from the abortion giant Planned Parenthood.
In one of his first acts as president, Trump also reinstated the Mexico City Policy, which prohibits international aid from going to groups that provide or promote abortions. That resulted in an additional $100 million in cuts to Planned Parenthood’s international arm, as well as cuts to other pro-abortion groups.
Other accomplishments include appointing pro-life people to key positions at the White House and federal courts, including the U.S. Supreme Court. His administration also stopped the HHS mandate that tried to compel faith-based employers to cover birth control drugs and devices that may cause abortions in their employee health plans.
During his first year in office, Trump also signed a bill to allow states to defund Planned Parenthood, the largest abortion chain in America.
Trump almost certainly will face a pro-abortion Democratic challenger in 2020. All of the prominent Democratic candidates so far support abortions for any reason up to birth, and many of them – including U.S. Sens. Kamala Harris, Cory Booker, Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders – voted against a bill to protect newborn babies from infanticide.
