克莱夫，爱荷华州-受到美国领先的反堕胎组织指责的唐纳德·特朗普(Donald Trump)周六在爱荷华州有影响力的福音派面前发表演讲，强调他作为总统试图限制堕胎权利的行动。
特朗普列举的主要成就包括他提名三名保守派法官到美国最高法院。这些任命为推翻去年具有里程碑意义的Roe案铺平了道路。该案确认了联邦堕胎权。
“这些法官在保护无辜生命方面取得了里程碑式的胜利。没人想到会发生这种事，”特朗普通过视频出现在爱荷华州信仰和自由联盟的一次集会上时说。“他们认为还需要50年。因为共和党人在那段时间里，也就是50年里，一直试图这么做。”
特朗普在再次竞选白宫时经常避免谈论堕胎，在法院推翻罗伊案不到一年后回避了这个问题。
但他认为堕胎限制应该由各州而不是联邦政府决定的立场，周四遭到了苏珊·b·安东尼反堕胎美国组织的严厉指责，该组织称这是“一个自称反堕胎总统候选人的道德立场”
特朗普周六没有对全国禁令表态。相反，作为总统，他的记录旨在满足福音派基督徒的核心堕胎反对者，他们在共和党初选中占据主导地位，特别是爱荷华州的第一次全国共和党党团会议。
特朗普赢得了掌声，因为他是第一位参加一年一度的反对堕胎游行的总统。
同样，当特朗普提到他将美国驻以色列大使馆从特拉维夫迁至耶路撒冷时，聚集在得梅因郊区活动大厅的约1000名群众欢呼起来，许多福音派基督徒认为这是实现圣经预言的象征。
“我作为候选人向你们做出的每一个承诺，作为总统我都兑现了，”他说。
特朗普的前副总统迈克·彭斯亲自出现在这群人面前，他在晚上早些时候的讲话中庆祝特朗普限制堕胎的努力，并为自己赢得了一些荣誉。
彭斯长期以保守价值观闻名，称这些任命是特朗普政府“最重要”的成就，赢得了人群的热烈掌声和欢呼。
“我们做到了，爱荷华州，”他说。“能成为这样一个政府的一小部分，我感到无比自豪。”
爱荷华州信仰和自由联盟的年度春季筹款活动标志着该州2024年党团会议活动的非正式开始。这次活动的特点是一系列共和党候选人和潜在竞争者，包括预计将参加竞选的南卡罗来纳州参议员蒂姆·斯科特。
被认为是特朗普头号竞争对手的佛罗里达州州长罗恩·德桑蒂斯(Ron DeSantis)没有出席。
这次活动给了总统候选人一个机会，在一个共和党人将于明年启动提名程序的州向福音派游说。这也是给活动人士留下印象的一个机会，在特朗普陷入法律问题，最近在纽约被指控涉嫌一名色情演员的封口费计划之际，这些活动人士可能会接受特朗普的替代方案。
这次集会是在堕胎权利作为一个关键问题重新出现的时候举行的选举这是在保守派去年实现了他们长期寻求的推翻Roe的目标之后。五、韦德裁决。
共和党总统候选人正在试图弄清楚，在支持限制堕胎程序方面，应该走多远，以满足初选中的保守派基础，但不要进一步疏远大选选民，大多数选民支持堕胎合法化。
苏珊·b·安东尼反堕胎美国组织表示，它不会支持任何至少不支持为期15周的联邦堕胎禁令的白宫候选人。
彭斯周六早些时候在爱荷华州杰斐逊停留期间告诉记者，最高法院的裁决并不排除联邦限制，这与特朗普不同。
“我肯定会支持为未出生者创造一个支持门槛的努力，即使是在国家层面上，”彭斯说，并补充说他将支持“至少15周的禁令。”
彭斯的倡导团体推动国会通过立法，包括从大约六周开始的全国堕胎禁令。
尽管特朗普在司法提名方面获得了好评，但他在去年的选举后受到了批评，因为他说共和党人的表现不佳是因为堕胎反对者反对因强奸或乱伦怀孕或有生命危险的妇女获得例外。
所有参加竞选或准备参选的共和党人都支持州禁止堕胎。大多数人对在全国范围内实施禁令持更加谨慎的态度。
斯科特表示，他将支持禁止怀孕20周后堕胎的联邦法律。
这位参议员呼吁将全国人民团结在基督教信仰的周围，并在周六发表讲话，称基督教的价值观是美国的根基。
“如果你像我一样相信美国应该纪念我们的开国元勋，而不是取消他们，让我听到你说‘阿门’，”斯科特在与观众的问答开始时喊道。
他和彭斯在早期访问爱荷华州时，定期拜访福音派牧师，目的是与神职人员建立友好关系，这些神职人员在政治活跃的社会保守派中对他们的教堂有影响力。
周六晚上出现的还有Vivek Ramaswamy，前阿肯色州州长Asa Hutchinson，电台主持人Larry Elder，前德克萨斯州众议员Will Hurd，前夏威夷民主党众议员Tulsi Gabbard和前密歇根州州长候选人Perry Johnson。
在他的结束语中，约翰逊提到了佛罗里达州州长缺席的事件。
“我认为德桑蒂斯不在这里是一个巨大的错误，”约翰逊说。“但每个人都有自己的。”
Trump defends push to restrict abortion rights after rebuke
CLIVE, Iowa -- Donald Trump, stinging from a rebuke by the nation's leading anti-abortion group, used a speech Saturday before influential evangelicals in Iowa to spotlight his actions as president to try to restrict abortion rights.
Chief among the accomplishments Trump listed were his nominations of three conservative judges to the U.S. Supreme Court. The appointments paved the way for the overturning last year of the landmark Roe. v. Wade ruling, which had affirmed a federal right to abortion.
“Those justices delivered a landmark victory for protecting innocent life. Nobody thought it was going to happen,” Trump said, appearing via video to a gathering of the Iowa Faith and Freedom Coalition. "They thought it would be another 50 years. Because Republicans had been trying to do it for exactly that period of time, 50 years."
Trump has often avoided talking about abortion as he campaigns again for the White House, sidestepping the issue less than a year after the court overturned Roe.
But his position that abortion restrictions should be left up to the states, not the federal government, drew a sharp rebuke Thursday from the Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America group, which called it a “morally indefensible position for a self-proclaimed pro-life presidential candidate."
Trump didn't take a stance Saturday on a national ban. Instead, he ticked through a record as president that aimed to satisfy abortion opponents that form the core of evangelical Christians, who hold sway in the GOP primary contest and particularly Iowa’s first-in-the-nation Republican caucuses.
Trump won applause noting he was the first president to attend the annual March for Life abortion opposition rally.
Likewise, the crowd of roughly 1,000 gathered in the suburban Des Moines event hall cheered when Trump noted his relocating the U.S. embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, a symbol many evangelical Christians see as fulfilling biblical prophecy.
“Every promise to you I made as a candidate, I fulfilled as president,” he said.
Trump's former vice president Mike Pence, who appeared in person before the group, used his speech earlier in the evening to celebrate Trump's efforts to restrict abortion and take some bit of credit for himself.
Pence, long known for his conservative values, called the appointments the "most important of all” the accomplishments of the Trump administration, drawing loud applause and cheers from the crowd.
“We did that, Iowa,” he said. “I couldn’t be more proud to have been a small part of an administration that did just that.”
The Iowa Faith and Freedom Coalition's annual spring fundraiser marks the unofficial start of the state's 2024 caucus campaign. The event featured a slate of Republican candidates and potential contenders, including U.S. Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina, who is expected to enter the race.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, considered a top rival to Trump, did not attend.
The event gives the presidential prospects the chance to make their pitch to evangelicals in a state where Republicans will kick off the nominating process next year. It's also a shot at making an impression on activists who may be open to an alternative to Trump at a time when he is mired in legal problems and was recently charged in New York in a hush money scheme involving a porn actor.
The gathering comes as abortion rights have reemerged as a pivotal issue in elections after conservatives last year achieved their long-sought goal of overturning the Roe. v. Wade ruling.
The Republican presidential field is trying to get a handle on how far to go in supporting restrictions on the procedure to satisfy the conservative base in the primary but not to further alienate general election voters, most of whom support keeping abortion legal.
Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America has said it will not support any White House candidate who does not at a minimum back a 15-week federal abortion ban.
Distinguishing himself from Trump, Pence told reporters during a stop in Jefferson, Iowa, earlier Saturday that the Supreme Court's ruling does not preclude federal restrictions.
“I’ll certainly support efforts to create a threshold of support for the unborn even at the national level,” Pence said, adding he would support “the minimum of a 15-week ban.”
Pence’s advocacy group has pushed for Congress to pass legislation including a national abortion ban beginning around six weeks.
Despite the credit Trump received for his judicial nominations, he was criticized after last year's elections for saying that Republicans' underperformance was due to abortion foes' opposition to exceptions for women who became pregnant by rape or incest or whose life was at risk.
All the Republicans in the race or moving toward running have supported state bans on abortion. Most have been much more cautious about staking a position on a nationwide ban.
Scott has said he would support a federal law to prohibit abortions after 20 weeks of pregnancy.
The senator has issued calls for uniting the nation around Christian faith and spoke Saturday about the religion's values being embedded in the foundation of America.
“If you believe, like l do, that America should celebrate our founding fathers and not cancel them, let me hear you say ‘Amen,’” Scott shouted at the start of a call-and-response with the audience.
He, along with Pence, has visited regularly with evangelical pastors during his early trips to Iowa, with the aim of building rapport with clergy who can be influential in their churches among politically active social conservatives.
Also appearing Saturday night were Vivek Ramaswamy, former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson, radio host Larry Elder, former Rep. Will Hurd of Texas, former Democratic Rep. Tulsi Gabbard of Hawaii and former Michigan gubernatorial candidate Perry Johnson.
In his closing remark, Johnson made reference to the Florida governor's absence from the event.
“I think DeSantis is making a huge mistake for not being here," Johnson said. "But to each his own.”
