William Saletan argues that Republicans — at least the ones in positions of power — don't really want to repeal Roe v. Wade. His case is quite logical but I haven't seen a lot of logical thinking in politics these days. If Donald Trump was logical, he'd take the five minutes to have someone spellcheck his tweets before he sends them and he'd have someone in the White House coordinate positions better so we didn't have this endless stream of one W.H. official saying something one minute and another saying the opposite or walking it back the next.
I read a lot of articles about abortion from all sides and I have watched the arguments drift from what's right for the mother and the baby towards overturning Roe v. Wade as a symbol of who's running this country. In fact, I increasingly get the feeling that a lot of Trump supporters don't really like him that much except for one thing: As long as he's in charge, they're in charge. Or at least they feel like they are. On some right-wing forums, there's this exuberance every time something Obama did is reversed, not because they think it was the wrong thing (or even know what it was) but because it enhances their feeling that this is a new country, owned by them.
There are smart people who are "pro-life" for reasons of principle and genuine religious motivation. I don't think they're right but I also don't think they're disingenuous or demagogues. If you add them to the folks who want to see Roe reversed because it'll piss off exactly the kind of person they enjoy seeing getting pissed off, I don't think Trump can miss the chance to get that wave of love from his base. But this is not a prediction because the only thing I feel confident predicting about this administration is that whatever they do, I won't like it.
Hey, you know what I sometimes do? I try to think, "What would make for the most interesting plot twist?" I'm a writer after all and that's a lot of what we do. We ask ourselves what would take this plotline in a sudden bizarre direction. On the matter of abortion, I think right now it would be if there was actual evidence supporting that theory from Paul Campos. He's that reporter who thinks that maybe when Republican lobbyist Elliott Broidy paid a Playboy model to keep quiet about an affair they had — an affair involving an abortion — he was covering up not his affair with the lady but Donald Trump's.
I have absolutely no idea if it's true…but it is the kind of weird plot development that stories involving Donald Trump seem to take. There are, of course, other possibilities.