The Atlantic

Trump Sees an Opening With Voters on Late-Term Abortion

The president lamented bills that would allow “a baby to be ripped from the mother’s womb moments from birth” in his State of the Union address.
Source: Joshua Roberts / Reuters

President Donald Trump condemned abortion in stark, graphic language in the State of the Union address on Tuesday night, eager to join in the backlash over recent Democratic legislation expanding access to late-term abortions.  

Referring to a New York law passed last month, Trump slammed lawmakers who “cheered with delight upon the passage of legislation that would allow a baby to be ripped from the mother's womb moments before birth.” He called recent state-level proposals on abortion “chilling,” and used explicitly religious language to call for “a culture that cherishes innocent life”: “Let us reaffirm a fundamental truth,” he said. “All children—born and unborn—are made in the holy image of God.”

Trump and other Republicans are using divisions over late-term abortion to their political advantage. They have seized on the Democratic

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