Among the more than 67 million people who tuned in to the first US presidential debate between Donald Trump and Kamala Harris was Lila Rose.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The young and charismatic founder of the anti-abortion group Live Action had hoped for big things from the Republican candidate: a bold display of anti-abortion beliefs and a promise to turn those beliefs into law.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
She was quickly disappointed. While Trump criticised Democrats\u2019 \u201cextreme\u201d abortion policies, he refused to take a position on a national ban, saying instead that the issue should be left to the states.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And he called himself a \u201cleader\u201d on IVF, putting himself at odds with Ms Rose and many in her movement, who oppose the procedure because it often involves destroying embryos.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIt was painful to watch,\u201d Ms Rose said of Trump\u2019s performance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ms Rose, 36, had always had reservations about Trump\u2019s anti-abortion bona fides, after years of shifting positions (including previously declaring himself pro-choice) and his openness to what she called \u201cconcerning compromises\u201d. But she, like most in her movement, had been encouraged by his first term and the three Trump-appointed Supreme Court nominees who went on to overturn Roe v Wade and end the nationwide right to abortion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Then Trump changed course, and her disillusionment with the former president swelled. Now on his third White House run, Trump seems to be working to appeal to all sides.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He hinted he would sign federal abortion legislation, before later walking it back. He called the state-wide restrictions that came into place after Roe v Wade fell \u201ca beautiful thing\u201d. But later, he said abortion bans early in pregnancy went too far, suggesting Republican candidates needed to be moderate enough on the issue to \u201cwin elections\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This summer, during the Democratic National Convention, the former president posted a statement online saying his future administration would be \u201cgreat for women and their reproductive rights\u201d – language typically used by pro-choice activists.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
By late August, Ms Rose had had enough, telling her more than one million followers that Trump was \u201cmaking it impossible\u201d to vote for him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIt\u2019s very clear that Trump is less pro-abortion than Kamala Harris,\u201d she told the BBC on Thursday. \u201cBut our movement\u2019s goal is not just to accept whatever the least worst candidate is and show up for them. Our goal is to help candidates who are going to be fighters for the pre-born.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
One of the most prominent leaders in the anti-abortion movement, Ms Rose\u2019s defection signals a potential problem with Trump\u2019s new strategy. As Trump attempts to moderate on abortion, he risks alienating some within his socially conservative base. And in an election that may be decided by a razor-thin margin, if those voters stay home in November it could cost Trump the White House.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWhen a strategy like that works, you can kind of be anything to everyone,\u201d said Mary Ziegler, a legal historian and expert on the US abortion debate. \u201cAnd when it stops working you wind up being nothing to everyone.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
His campaign did not respond to a request for comment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Trump in 2016, and again in 2020, had held social conservatives close. He embraced anti-abortion activists and championed their movement, becoming the first sitting president to attend the March for Life, the country\u2019s largest annual anti-abortion demonstration.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He delivered for social conservatives in a way that few Republican presidents ever had, Ms Ziegler said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cTrump, I think, always understood with his first two races that he would be politically dead in the water without the movement,\u201d she said. \u201cSo there was much more catering to them.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In return, these voters turned out overwhelmingly for Trump<\/u><\/a>. In 2020, the former president claimed 84% of white evangelical Christians – some of the most socially conservative voters in the country – up from the already high 77% in 2016.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But Trump was reportedly spooked by his party\u2019s underperformance in the 2022 midterm elections – which he and many analysts attributed to the fall of Roe v Wade – and aware of the broad public support for abortion access<\/u><\/a>. So, this time around, Trump has seemed to soften on the issue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n By the time the Republican primary elections began at the start of the year, he had started to criticise six-week abortion bans, promising to find a national standard that would please everyone. \u201cBoth sides are going to like me,\u201d he said last year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n And over the summer, confronted with more questions about what his White House would do on abortion, Trump could not settle on an answer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n He indicated he wanted a national \u201cstandard\u201d for abortion but has since backed away from any commitment. He said he believed in states\u2019 authority over abortion policy but intervened in several state battles over abortion, often in opposition to social conservatives.<\/p>\n\n\n\n