Make no mistake: this Trump presidency will continue to attack abortion rights | Moira Donegan

Just because Trump is publicly distancing himself from abortion does not mean Republicans won't enact a national ban

Abortion rights initiatives were on the ballot in 10 states on Tuesday, and won in seven of them. One of the losers was prop 4, Florida's abortion rights measure, which received a whopping 57% of the vote but failed to meet the state's unusually high 60% threshold, meaning that the state's six-week ban will remain in place. Asked about the Florida abortion rights proposition ahead of the election, Trump said that when he went to cast his ballot near Palm Beach, he would vote against it.

It has always been a little hard to believe that Donald Trump personally hates abortion, even if it is abundantly clear how little he thinks of women. Trump, after all, has claimed to have numerous conflicting positions on abortion rights throughout his life. And his brand of masculinity is boorish, vulgar, and above all, sexually entitled - far from the priggish, repressed moralism of more classical anti-abortion figures like Mike Pence.

Moira Donegan is a Guardian US columnist