Donald Trump’s response to the repeal of Roe v. Wade on Friday was characteristically uncomplicated.

“I think, in the end, this is something that will work out for everybody,” Trump said in an interview with Fox News. “This brings everything back to the states where it has always belonged.”

Trump, of course, is famous for having reversed his opinion on abortion before seeking the Republican nomination for president and for having moderated his position on it in real time on the campaign trail in 2016. He understood the abortion issue fundamentally as a vehicle for bolstering his political support, and, as was the case with his base more broadly, he spent much of his presidency working to strengthen that support. For many abortion opponents, politics was the cumbersome path to achieving their desired moral outcomes. For Trump, abortion was the cumbersome path to achieving his desired political ones....