New York Gov. Kathy Hochul argued on Tuesday that the repeal of Roe v. Wade has ruined Donald Trump’s chances of winning over woman voters and that his latest statement on abortion won’t change that.
“[Trump’s] going to say something in March; you support a national ban. In April, the polls don’t look so good, so now you’re backing off. But all of a sudden, you’re going to lose the evangelicals,” Hochul said about the former president during an appearance on MSNBC, referring to how often he’s changed how he talks about it.
She continued: “You’re going to keep going back and forth until election day, and one thing: Donald Trump has been indicted all over this country, including right here in the state of New York. He just just indicted himself in the eyes of women all over America.”
Hocul’s comments come in response to Trump’s latest statement on abortion rights, released Monday, in which he attempted to distance himself from the total ban on abortion that is part of the Republican Party Platform.
In that statement, Trump lied about how legal scholars felt about Roe, and didn’t mention that he has repeatedly endorsed a national abortion ban, or that he has repeatedly bragged about being the reason Roe v. Wade was repealed. (In 2016 one of his most consistent campaign promises was to appoint anti-abortion justices to the Supreme Court.)
He did say he supports IVF, which involves the destruction of nonviable embryos but is also very popular with right wing voters who otherwise oppose abortion. He also said that states “will determine” whether abortion is legal “by vote, or legislation, or perhaps vote.” This ambiguous phrasing has since been reported as Trump suggesting that individual states could decide for themselves, though analysts note that Trump still supports legislation and regulatory policies that would ban abortion nationwide.
Analysts have noted that abortion rights are extremely popular and the vast majority of Americans oppose the bans that are occurring in every state controlled by the Republican Party, and that Trump’s statement is an attempt to stem some of that political damage.
Hochul plainly stated that she feels Trump is full of it, and she thinks women voters won’t believe his lies either.
“I have one simple statement: how do you know when Donald Trump is lying? When his lips are moving. And that has been played out time and time again. Women don’t trust him,” Hochul said. “And they are going to pay back on what he has done to them — destroying their lives, their freedom, that sense of security that you have control over your own body. So the gig is up, Donald Trump. You just went too far and no believes you.”
In June 2022, the U.S. Supreme Court — which included three Trump-appointed justices — voted to overturn Roe v. Wade in its decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, which took away women’s federal right to an abortion.
