Trump Highlights Supreme Court Abortion Decision at Faith and Freedom Conference

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A year after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, former President Donald J. Trump reminded a gathering of evangelical activists in the nation’s capital how he shaped the courts’ conservative supermajority that ended nearly 50 years of constitutional protections for abortion.

Appearing at a Faith & Freedom Coalition gala in Washington on Saturday night, he cited his appointment of three of the six justices who voted to overturn the body as the capstone of his presidency. And he cast himself as a relentless crusader for Christianity in a meandering speech that lasted nearly 90 minutes.

No president has ever fought for Christians as hard as I have, he said, adding, I have done it, and no one thought it was a possibility.

This is the eighth appearance of Mr. Trump in front of the group, whose support he is looking to consolidate in a tight G.O.P. competition for the 2024 nomination, even though he is the front-runner in the field. He said Republican voters are skeptical of claims by some of his rivals that they are stronger opponents of abortion, and suggested that skepticism has surfaced on the campaign trail.

A woman stood up and said, This guy ended Roe v. Wade. How can you fight him? Mr. Trump said, without mentioning the candidate or the setting.

Several thousand activists gave an ovation to Mr. Trump when he touted the decision, which he said gave conservatives an advantage in the ongoing battle over abortion rights. A few hundred more filled an overflow room.

You have power for the first time, he said.

Almost all of Mr.’s rivals. Trump in the crowded GOP field appeared at the groups’ three-day Road to Majority conference at the Washington Hilton. The lineup includes Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida, the chief rival of Mr. Trumps, and former Vice President Mike Pence, Mr.’s former running mate. Trump.

In a rally in front of the Lincoln Memorial earlier on Saturday in commemoration of the courts decision, Mr. Pence urged anti-abortion activists to continue fighting to place additional restrictions on the procedure at the state level.

Save the babies, and we will save America, he said, adding, As the old book says, there are more of us than of them.

In a speech at the gathering the day before, Mr. Pence across the 2024 Republican presidential field to pledge support for a national ban on abortion before 15 weeks of a ban more extreme than the one Mr. Trump at the moment.

David Porter, 64, a Republican from Newport News, Va., who wore a Walk With Jesus hat at the rally, praised Mr. Trump for his imprint on the judiciary.

Hes my guy right now, she said.

Several times in his speech on Saturday night, Mr. Trump sought to align himself with the faith community and said it was under attack, as was he.

Together, are warriors in a righteous crusade to stop the arsonists, the atheists, the globalists and the Marxists, he said.

Every indictment, he added, is a great badge of courage.

I am being sued for you, he said.

The alliance of Mr. Trump on the Christian right is a study in political opportunism, one that has yielded huge dividends for both.

In 2016, evangelical voters helped propel Mr. Trump in a string of Republican primary victories in South Carolina and other key states, giving him a path to the nomination and ultimately the presidency.

The influential electoral bloc has shown a willingness to look beyond the weaknesses of the twice-divorced Mr. Trump, whose extramarital affairs have long been tabloid fodder and has a history of supporting abortion rights in the 1990s. Evangelical voters bought Mr. Trump’s populist narrative. Trump, as well as his promises to carry out a hard-line reset of the countries’ immigration and trade policies and to appoint pro-life justices.

The group collected its returns during the presidency of Mr. Trump when he cemented a supermajority in the Supreme Court.

Mr. Trump announced his remaking of the nation’s highest court as he once again sought the support of evangelical voters, this time shrouded in a series of accusations, including one in a case of hush- money involving a porn star.

But even as Mr. Trump has highlighted his role in fighting rights to end abortion rights, he has repeatedly sidestepped questions about whether he would sign a federal abortion ban if Republicans succeeded in avoiding one of the divided Congress.

Mr. Porter, the anti-abortion activist from Virginia, said Mr. Trump’s avoidance was troubling.

Either you stand for what you believe in or you don’t, he said.

Mr. DeSantis, who spoke Friday at an evangelical conclave, sought to rally the right against Mr. Trump on abortion policy. He criticized the former president for suggesting that the six-week abortion ban signed by Mr. DeSantis in Florida was too harsh.

Susan Migliore, an anti-abortion activist from Falls Church, Va., who said she is religious but not evangelical, said at the Lincoln Memorial rally that she was grateful for Mr. Trump on the court, but has not decided which candidate he will support in 2024.

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