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. 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. 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. “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.