Former President Donald Trump has been vocal about his instrumental role in the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn the 1973 Roe v. Wade ruling, which ensured nationwide abortion rights. However, his repeated assertions that the court’s 2022 decision to rescind Roe received unanimous support are grossly inaccurate.
In a video statement on abortion policy shared on social media on Monday, Trump stated, “I was proudly the person responsible for the ending of something that all legal scholars, both sides, wanted and, in fact, demanded be ended: Roe v. Wade. They wanted it ended.” He later added that since “we have abortion where everybody wanted it from a legal standpoint,” states are now free to establish their own abortion laws.
It remains unclear whether Trump’s use of “everybody” refers specifically to legal scholars or the American public. However, in earlier statements this year, he has broadly claimed that “everybody,” without exception, agreed that the power to determine abortion law should be returned to individual states.
Facts First: Trump’s Claims Debunked
Trump’s assertion that “all legal scholars” wanted Roe overturned is far from the truth. Many legal scholars wanted Roe preserved, as several of them reiterated in comments to CNN on Monday. Furthermore, Trump’s wider claims that “everybody” wanted states to be granted the power to determine abortion law are also false. Opinion polls have consistently shown that a large majority of Americans did not want Roe terminated.
Many Legal Scholars Wanted Roe Preserved
It is uncertain what proportion of “legal scholars” wished for Roe v. Wade to be overturned. While some certainly did, Trump’s claim that “all” of them wanted Roe gone is easily disproven with a simple Google search.
Legal scholars such as Rutgers Law School professor Kimberly Mutcherson, American University law professor Maya Manian, and Yale Law School professor Reva Siegel, who all supported the preservation of Roe, have publicly refuted Trump’s claims. Mary Ziegler, a law professor at the University of California, Davis and an expert on the history of the US abortion debate, also disagreed with Trump’s assertion, stating that “most legal scholars probably track most Americans who didn’t want to overturn Roe.”
While some legal scholars who support abortion rights wished that Roe had been written differently, they did not advocate for its overturn. Instead, they argued for strengthening Roe and expanding its protections, not for its evisceration.
Most Americans Wanted Roe Preserved
Trump’s claims extend beyond the supposed unanimity of “legal scholars” in support of the decision to overturn Roe. He has repeatedly asserted that “everybody” agreed that abortion law should be a state matter, implying he was referring to the views of the American public. However, numerous polls have shown that most Americans – two-thirds or nearly two-thirds of respondents in multiple polls – wished for Roe to be preserved.
For instance, a CNN poll conducted by SSRS in July 2023 found that 64% of adults opposed the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe. This result was nearly identical to a CNN poll conducted by SSRS in July 2022, the month after the decision. Similarly, a Marquette Law School poll in February 2024 found 67% of adults opposed the decision that overturned Roe. An NBC News poll in June 2023 found 61% opposition among registered voters to the decision that overturned Roe. A Gallup poll in May 2023 found 61% of adults called the decision a bad thing.