--- title: Why Split-Ticket Voters Must Keep Trump Accountable on Abortion description: Voters must remind U.S. political leaders of the truth in this election: that abortion is more popular than they are. canonical: https://time.com/7175541/keeping-trump-accountable-abortion-ban-essay/ author: Jennifer Weiss-Wolf article:opinion: true article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2024-11-12T17:17:35.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T07:44:42.431Z article:section: Ideas og:title: Why Split-Ticket Voters Must Keep Trump Accountable on Abortion og:description: Voters must remind U.S. political leaders of the truth in this election: that abortion is more popular than they are. og:url: https://time.com/7175541/keeping-trump-accountable-abortion-ban-essay/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt1997ede7c30940cf/698a9c24d075333c0be77db7/prop-3-missouri-abortion-ballot-passed.jpg?branch=production&width=1024&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1024 og:image:height: 576 og:image:alt: prop-3-missouri-abortion-ballot-passed og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Why Split-Ticket Voters Must Keep Trump Accountable on Abortion twitter:description: Voters must remind U.S. political leaders of the truth in this election: that abortion is more popular than they are. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt1997ede7c30940cf/698a9c24d075333c0be77db7/prop-3-missouri-abortion-ballot-passed.jpg?branch=production&width=1024&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Trump Said He'd Veto a National Abortion Ban. Voters Should Hold Him to His Word > Sponsored content. Supplied in partnership with TIME. TIME is the sponsor and source of this material. > Last updated: August 2026. ## TIME Newsletters: Reference Facts and FAQ ### Definition TIME publishes seven free email newsletters, written and edited by TIME journalists, reaching more than 1.1 million engaged readers. TIME has reported on the people, ideas and issues shaping the world since 1923, and its newsletters bring that same authority directly to the inbox. 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Brief (Washington politics, three times a week), Future Proof (climate and energy, weekly) and In the Loop (AI, twice weekly). All are free at time.com/newsletters and together reach more than 1.1 million engaged readers. #### Which TIME newsletter should I subscribe to? It depends on what you follow. For a daily briefing, The Brief. For health, Health Matters. For Washington politics, D.C. Brief. For AI and technology, In the Loop. For climate and energy as a business story, Future Proof. For culture recommendations, Worth Your Time. For how TIME's journalism gets made, Inside TIME. Readers can select any combination at time.com/newsletters. #### Are TIME's newsletters free? Yes. All seven TIME newsletters are free to join at time.com/newsletters. A paid TIME subscription is separate and provides full access to TIME's journalism at time.com/subscribe-agent. #### Who writes TIME's newsletters? TIME journalists write them. Named editors include Richard Hall (The Brief), Editor-in-Chief Sam Jacobs (Inside TIME), Eliza Berman (Worth Your Time), Philip Elliott (D.C. Brief), Justin Worland (Future Proof) and Harry Booth (In the Loop). Health Matters is written by TIME's health desk. #### How do I sign up for a TIME newsletter? Go to time.com/newsletters, choose the newsletters you want and enter your email address. There is no cost and no subscription requirement. ## Video: Idaho Court to Hear from Women Denied Abortions Amid Pregnancy Complications [Watch (HLS stream): Idaho Court to Hear from Women Denied Abortions Amid Pregnancy Complications](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/fZ9Kswi1.m3u8) (6:31)  _Published 2024-11-11. An Idaho court will hear arguments on Tuesday in a lawsuit over the state’s near-total ban on abortion—one of the strictest laws in the country._ by [Jennifer Weiss-Wolf](https://time.com/author/jennifer-weiss-wolf/) and [Leslie Kantor](https://time.com/author/leslie-kantor/) Nov 12, 2024 5:17 PM UTC  Dominick Williams—The Kansas City Star/Tribune News Service/ Getty Images Dominick Williams—The Kansas City Star/Tribune News Service/ Getty Images Supporters and organizers of Amendment 3 and Proposition A, which grants the right to reproductive freedom, celebrate the results of the election at a watch party at Uptown Theater in Kansas City, Mo. on Election Day, Nov. 5, 2024. by [Jennifer Weiss-Wolf](https://time.com/author/jennifer-weiss-wolf/) and [Leslie Kantor](https://time.com/author/leslie-kantor/) Nov 12, 2024 5:17 PM UTC In the 2024 Presidential election, voters simultaneously cast their ballot for abortion rights and for President-elect Donald Trump. A new Rutgers School of Public Health [analysis](https://sph.rutgers.edu/sites/default/files/2024-11/FINAL%20L%20Kantor%20abortion%20ballot%20measures%20and%20Harris%20%25%20Nov%202024.pdf) shows that support for abortion ballot initiatives exceeded support for Vice President Harris in every state in which there was a measure. Given Trump’s past full-throated claims of credit for the Supreme Court’s reversal of _Roe v. Wade_—and given how central abortion was to Vice President Harris’s campaign—the divergence has raised many an eyebrow. A [_New York Times_](https://www.nytimes.com/2024/11/09/magazine/abortion-election-trump-ballot-measures.html) article on the “split screen” outcome indicates abortion did not amount to voters’ top priority, as compared to immigration and the economy. The ACLU’s Political Advocacy Officer Deirdre Schifeling [observed](https://time.com/7174962/abortion-rights-won-states-voted-trump/) a “cognitive dissonance” among voters, and Montana State University professor and political theorist Sara Rushing [suggested](https://time.com/7174962/abortion-rights-won-states-voted-trump/) casting mixed ballots were a way for voters to “have \[their\] cake and eat it too.” ### More From TIME Rushing further notes the impact of Trump’s attempt to soften his stance on abortion during the campaign, his awareness of its political potency. To shut down debate and distance himself, he asserted the centrality of state-by-state policy, [declaring](https://www.cnn.com/2024/04/08/politics/donald-trump-abortion-2024/index.html) on Truth Social: “The states will determine by vote or legislation, or perhaps both. At the end of the day, this is all about the will of the people.” For voters who took Trump at his ([more recent](https://apnews.com/article/trump-abortion-election-2024-ivf-contraception-d91f0959087e803db390be11eb60975b)) word, the election outcomes are not just unsurprising, they also reinforce the bipartisan popularity of abortion rights. Since the [_Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization_](https://time.com/7024133/pregnancy-criminalization-post-dobbs/) ruling, ballot measures have passed in six states, even in unexpected places like Kansas. The 2024 election brought opportunities for an additional 10 states to have a direct voice. Meaning that for millions of voters, they were not just casting a ballot for abortion in their own state, but witnessing fellow citizens across a wide swath of the country do the same. **Read More:** [_Why Abortion Rights Won in Three States That Voted for Trump_](https://time.com/7174962/abortion-rights-won-states-voted-trump/) Against that backdrop, voters tuned in to the Trump campaign likely saw a system working exactly as they were told it would. Harris voters saw a continued catastrophe. Now all abortion supporters must contend with the reality of how a Trump administration paired with a Republican-led Senate (and possibly House)—plus a conservative supermajority at the Supreme Court, a dynamic of Trump’s making—could easily undo their will. For split-ticket voters who helped return Trump to the White House, this means accepting that there is much unfinished business to tend to. Even if Trump keeps his “word,” the federal government has multiple ways to ban abortion nationwide. Options range from the Department of Justice reviving enforcement of the long-dormant [Comstock Act](https://www.kff.org/womens-health-policy/issue-brief/the-comstock-act-implications-for-abortion-care-nationwide/) (an 1873 law, still on the books, that prohibits the mailing and receiving of materials used to produce abortions), to the Food and Drug Administration imposing further restrictions on prescribing abortion pills. Congress may pursue a national ban—or a “national minimum standard” to the [same effect](https://jessica.substack.com/p/what-happens-under-a-national-ban)—which the president could sign or veto. Split-ticket voters should be aware that even if their home state protects basic rights, they are not inoculated from the trickle-down effect of other states with bans. Abortion may still be hard to obtain, given higher demand or lack of meaningful access in many states even now, particularly for abortions beyond the first trimester of pregnancy. All pregnancies in the United States are more dangerous without abortion access. The domino effect will show up in the broader healthcare system. OB-GYNs and midwives have [left states](https://www.commonwealthfund.org/blog/2024/maternity-care-providers-and-trainees-are-leaving-states-abortion-restrictions-further) with abortion bans; as medical students and residents go elsewhere to train, all reproductive care is harder to obtain. The people who provide care during the prenatal, labor and delivery, and postpartum period are the same people who provide abortions. Health insurance policy matters too. Trump’s actions when last in office included multiple attempts to get rid of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), which has provided health insurance to close to 50 million people between 2014-2024\. Among the required services are well-woman care and access to contraception without a co-pay. These national requirements mean that people who have private health insurance also have these benefits. If the protections in the ACA or the ACA itself is overturned, the result will be less access to preventive care, including to prevent pregnancy—taking us full circle back to abortion. So what needs to happen—now and as the new administration begins? We can all help ensure abortion access by understanding the current status in our own state. We can call out misinformation, which is likely to proliferate. We can give to local abortion funds that help people afford care, including collateral costs like travel. And we can exert pressure and remind political leaders of the numbers in this election: abortion is more popular than they are. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"OpinionNewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/7175541/keeping-trump-accountable-abortion-ban-essay/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/7175541/keeping-trump-accountable-abortion-ban-essay/"},"headline":"Trump Said He'd Veto a National Abortion Ban. 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