Under Pressure in Impeachment Trial, Trump Steps Up Attacks on Reproductive Rights

Donald Trump on Friday became the first sitting president in U.S. history to attend the so-called March for Life, the annual anti-abortion rally held in Washington, D.C., that draws thousands of participants.

President Trump — who once described himself as “pro-choice in every respect” — accused Democrats of infanticide and falsely stated that Virginia Governor Ralph Northam supports an abortion bill that would “execute a baby after birth.”

The March for Life began in 1974 in response to the landmark 1973 Supreme Court ruling in Roe v. Wade, which guaranteed the constitutional right to abortion. Past U.S. presidents who opposed abortion considered the march too extreme and divisive to attend, and instead sent surrogates or recorded video messages.

The same day that Trump addressed anti-abortion activists in Washington, his administration threatened to cut off federal funding for some health programs in California unless the state ends its requirement that private health insurers cover abortions.

California Governor Gavin Newsom said the state would not change its policy.

Trump’s Education Secretary Betsy DeVos also recently compared anti-abortion activism to the fight to end slavery.

Democracy Now! speaks with Fatima Goss Graves, president and CEO of the National Women’s Law Center.

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