Former President Donald Trump said Monday that abortion laws should be left to the states, a lot of which have enacted recent restrictions since he appointed Supreme Court Justices who voted to overturn federal protections for the procedure.
In a four-and-half-minute video released on his Truth Social media platform, Trump falsely claimed that “we’ve got abortion where everybody wanted it from a legal standpoint” within the wake of the Supreme Court’s 2022 Dobbs decision. A majority of Americans have consistently said in polling that they favor the Roe vs. Wade protections that the court dismantled.
“My view is, now that we’ve got abortion where everybody wanted it from a legal standpoint, the states will determine by vote or laws, or perhaps each, and whatever they resolve must be the law of the land,” Trump said.
In doing so, he refused to take a position on the national ban that has been promoted by a few of his staunchest allies, including Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., and former White House aide Kellyanne Conway. Previously, Trump had hinted that he might embrace a national ban, referring to a 15- or 16-week threshold as a consensus position.
Trump didn’t say what he would do if he won the presidency and Congress sent him a national ban.
Over the past quarter of a century, and even since he became a candidate for office in 2015, Trump has been everywhere in the map on how to handle the abortion issue. Because the 2024 campaign began, he’s offered few specifics about which policies he’d back within the post-Roe v. Wade era should he win the White House.
Trump, a Florida resident, hasn’t said where he stands on Florida’s recent six-week ban. When he’s teased support for a nationwide ban, his words often appear to contradict formal statements put out by his campaign.
Trump has said he supports exceptions in cases of rape, incest and to protect the lifetime of the mother, a position he reiterated in Monday’s video. However the president doesn’t determine how states make their laws.
Trump has ceaselessly gloated over being answerable for the reversal of Roe v. Wade, which dismantled reproductive rights protections. But he also blamed GOP losses in 2022 on the difficulty and has said Republicans need to find out how to discuss abortion in a way that does not turn off potential voters.
Last yr, after abortion protections were reversed, he made a vague overture in an interview with NBC News’ “Meet the Press” that he would be a voice of consensus on abortion — but didn’t specify how.
“Let me just inform you what I’d do,” he said. “I’m going to come along with all groups, and we’re going to have something that is acceptable.”
On the time, he said he would not sign a federal abortion ban at 15 weeks.
In recent months, nevertheless, Trump moved within the direction of a federal abortion ban at the same time as a few of his statements were at odds along with his campaign. After reports surfaced that he told allies he was mulling a federal abortion ban at 16 weeks, his campaign dismissed it as “fake news.” Soon after, Republican South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham told NBC News that “Trump is warming up to 16 weeks.” After which Trump himself in an interview suggested he’d support a 15-week ban.
The prospect of the highest of the GOP ticket backing a federal abortion ban at a time when Democrats are elevating the difficulty as a central point of attack could put swing-state Republicans in a trick box, after some have attempted to moderate their positions. Statements from Trump’s campaign, nevertheless, seem to be leaning toward states’ rights and never a federal ban.
“President Trump supports preserving life but has also made clear that he supports states’ rights because he supports the voters’ right to make decisions for themselves,” Brian Hughes, a Trump senior adviser, said in a statement. He added: “President Trump thinks voters should have the last word.”
After offering little clarity, this week, at a campaign rally in Grand Rapids, Mich., Trump said his campaign would be “making a statement next week on abortion” after he was asked if he supported a six-week abortion ban that the Florida Supreme Court just upheld.
President Joe Biden’s campaign has seized on Trump’s various remarks on abortion, particularly his past boasts of getting a hand in overturning Roe v. Wade.
“Donald Trump doesn’t trust women,” Biden says in a recent ad. “I do.”