Power

Donald Trump to Become Next President of the United States

Donald Trump created an anti-choice advisory council, pledged to nominate anti-choice justices to the Supreme Court in hopes of making the repeal of Roe v. Wade happen "automatically," and promised to help pass a 20-week abortion ban to solidify his credentials with anti-choice voters.

Donald Trump's victory came despite numerous polls predicting his campaign's demise. Jeff Kowalsky/AFP/Getty Images

Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump has been named the winner of the U.S. presidential election, claiming a victory over Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton early Wednesday morning.

Trump’s victory came despite numerous polls predicting his campaign’s demise. “The forgotten men and women of our country will be forgotten no longer,” said Trump in a Wednesday rally celebrating his victory in New York City, according to the New York Times. “It is time for us to come together as one united people.”

Clinton called Trump to concede the race shortly before he spoke, the Times reported.

Trump has vowed to make the Hyde Amendment’s ban on federal funding for abortion care in most cases permanent. The GOP candidate created an anti-choice advisory council, pledged to nominate anti-choice justices to the U.S. Supreme Court in hopes of making the repeal of Roe v. Wade happen “automatically,” and promised to help pass a 20-week abortion ban to solidify his credentials with anti-choice voters.

Anti-choice advocates, including many Republicans and conservatives, spent much of the 2016 presidential campaign season questioning whether Trump was a candidate they could fully support, given that he had previously claimed to be “pro-choice.” But with the addition to the GOP ticket of Indiana Gov. Mike Pence, who has spent his tenure paving the way for abortion restrictions in the state, most anti-choice Republicans fell in line.

Reproductive rights advocates fear that Trump’s election could be a major setback for abortion rights and reproductive health care. “My colleagues across the country are deeply disheartened by the election of Donald J. Trump.” said Dr. Willie Parker, board chair of Physicians for Reproductive Health, in a Wednesday statement. “A Trump presidency will mean that attacks on access to abortion and all other reproductive health services will continue at the federal level and in states all across this country.”

Clinton was a vocal proponent of reproductive rights on the campaign trail, and received early endorsements in the Democratic primary from both Planned Parenthood Action Fund and NARAL Pro-Choice America’s political arm. Clinton’s health-care platform included a call for “quality, affordable” abortion access in the United States, and she promised to nominate Supreme Court justices who would defend Roe v. Wade. She also repeatedly voiced opposition to the Hyde Amendment.

The 2016 presidential race brought acute anxiety to both sides of the aisle.

Though the FBI concluded in July that there was no evidence to bring charges against Clinton for her handling of classified information related to her emails while secretary of state, FBI Director James Comey added fuel to conservatives’ criticism of Clinton by announcing 11 days before the election that new emails relevant to the investigation had been uncovered.

Comey said Sunday that the FBI had completed its review of the new emails, and had found no evidence that would change its conclusion from July.

Trump, meanwhile, has faced a growing list of controversies since the day he announced his candidacy in June 2015 with a speech pushing the false claim that Mexican immigrants are “rapists” who bring crime to the United States.

Those remarks set the tone for Trump’s campaign, which received criticism over the candidate’s often racially charged language, along with his positions on building a wall along the U.S. border with Mexico, banning all Muslims from entering the United States, and instituting racially biased stop-and-frisk policies.

Trump—who has also faced pushback for his comments about women—was accused by multiple women of sexual assault and other inappropriate behavior after the Washington Post released hot mic footage from 2005 of him discussing kissing and groping women without their consent.