Former U.S. President Donald Trump speaks to the media as he arrives at the Atlanta airport on April 10, 2024, in Atlanta. / Credit: Megan Varner/Getty ImagesCNA Staff, Apr 10, 2024 / 14:20 pm (CNA).Former President Donald Trump on Wednesday said he would not sign a national abortion ban if reelected to the office of the presidency in November. The Republican presidential candidate was at an event in Atlanta on Wednesday when a reporter asked him: "Would you sign a national abortion ban if Congress sent it to your desk?" "No," Trump said in response. Asked by the reporter: "You wouldn't sign it?" Trump responded again: "No."Trump had minutes earlier indicated that he disagreed with this week's historic ruling at the Arizona Supreme Court. That court on Monday ruled that state law does not guarantee a right to an abortion and that an 1864 law prohibiting all abortions can take effect later this month.Asked in Atlanta on Wednesday if that ruling "went too far,...
Former U.S. President Donald Trump speaks to the media as he arrives at the Atlanta airport on April 10, 2024, in Atlanta. / Credit: Megan Varner/Getty Images
CNA Staff, Apr 10, 2024 / 14:20 pm (CNA).
Former President Donald Trump on Wednesday said he would not sign a national abortion ban if reelected to the office of the presidency in November.
The Republican presidential candidate was at an event in Atlanta on Wednesday when a reporter asked him: "Would you sign a national abortion ban if Congress sent it to your desk?"
"No," Trump said in response.
Asked by the reporter: "You wouldn't sign it?" Trump responded again: "No."
Trump had minutes earlier indicated that he disagreed with this week's historic ruling at the Arizona Supreme Court. That court on Monday ruled that state law does not guarantee a right to an abortion and that an 1864 law prohibiting all abortions can take effect later this month.
Asked in Atlanta on Wednesday if that ruling "went too far," Trump responded: "Yeah they did, and that will be straightened out."
"I'm sure that the governor and everybody else are going to bring it back into reason and that'll be taken care of, I think very quickly," the former president said.
Trump has been steadily positioning himself as more of a centrist on abortion in recent months.
On Monday he said in a social media video that "at the end of the day" abortion law in the U.S. is "all about the will of the people" and that "now it's up to the states to do the right thing."
President Joe Biden, on the other hand, last month promised to support a law that would legalize abortion nationwide in response to the repeal of Roe v. Wade two years ago.
null / Credit: ShutterstockCNA Newsroom, Apr 30, 2024 / 17:45 pm (CNA).Florida's bishops are welcoming a new law that allows public schools in the state to have volunteer chaplains.The Florida Conference of Catholic Bishops, which represents bishops in the state's seven dioceses on public policy matters, did not take a position on the bill while legislators debated it earlier this year."However, we recognize the good that chaplains can do in schools by helping students to address their spiritual and emotional needs. We are pleased that parents will determine the services their children will receive in districts that choose to establish chaplaincy programs," said Michelle Taylor, associate director of communications for the Florida Conference of Catholic Bishops, in an email message to CNA on Tuesday.The measure, which takes effect July 1, requires public schools and charter schools that establish such a program to publish on their websites a list of volunteer school chaplains a...
Jimmy Lai at a Hong Kong protest / Courtesy of the Acton InstituteCNA Staff, Apr 30, 2024 / 18:10 pm (CNA).An unnamed Hong Kong government spokesperson criticized a bill proposed by two U.S. congressmen that would rename the address of the Hong Kong Economic Trade Office in Washington, D.C. "Jimmy Lai Way," honoring a 75-year-old democracy advocate who has been incarcerated in Hong Kong since 2020.The spokesperson called on the U.S. to "stop maliciously interfering" in Hong Kong affairs, according to a Tuesday report by the Hong Kong Free Press.Representatives Chris Smith (R-NJ) and Tom Suozzi (D-NY) proposed the bill last week. Jimmy Lai, a pro-democracy businessman and convert to Catholicism, was arrested on several charges under the controversial national security law, which was passed by China's communist-controlled government in 2020. His newspaper, Apple Daily, published pro-democracy content and was often critical of the Chinese Communist Party. Rep. Chris Smi...
Pope Francis prays during his Wednesday general audience in St. Peter's Square at the Vatican on April 24, 2024. / Credit: Vatican MediaACI Prensa Staff, Apr 30, 2024 / 13:00 pm (CNA).On the occasion of its first general convention taking place in Rome this week, Pope Francis has addressed a message to the Regnum Christi Federation. In his message, the Holy Father encouraged the organization's membership to discern "how to make present in our days the mystery of Christ," in keeping with the particular vocation of each individual.The convention, the first to be held since the approval of the new statutes in 2019, is taking place after a long process of listening and purification that came in the wake of multiple abuses committed by various members, including the founder of the Legionaries of Christ, the late Mexican priest Father Marcial Maciel.In the letter, sent to Father John Lane Connor, LC, president of the federation's general board of directors, the Holy Father asks "the ...