Former US President Donald Trump has hailed the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn nationwide abortion rights as a decision from God.
“God decided that,” said the 76-year-old on Fox News on Friday when asked if he himself had laid the basis for the decision by appointing three conservative judges.
The move is consistent with the Constitution and should have happened “a long time ago,” Trump added.
In a statement shortly afterwards, however, he still emphasized his own merits. The decision was only possible “because I delivered everything as promised, including the nomination and confirmation of three highly respected and strong constitutional lawyers on the US Supreme Court,” Trump said. “It was a great honor for me to do that”
Shortly before, the Supreme Court had overturned the right to abortion that had been in force in the USA for five decades: The court overturned the landmark judgment that had been in force since 1973 and that had made history with the designation “Roe v. Wade”. This means that the individual states are free to allow, restrict or ban abortion altogether.
Trump announced during the 2016 election campaign that he would nominate constitutional judges who would work to end Roe v. Wade. In doing so, he wanted to secure the votes of conservative Christians in particular, who had been skeptical of him for a long time.
During his tenure, he actually nominated three constitutional judges. Since then, conservative lawyers have held a clear majority of six of the nine judges on the Supreme Court.
Incumbent President Joe Biden has called the abortion ruling a “tragic mistake”. The decision is based on an “extreme ideology” and has “taken away a constitutional right” from women in the United States, Biden said on Friday at the White House in Washington.
“The health and lives of the women of this country are now at risk,” the President warned.
