Donald Trump declines to endorse national abortion ban
Former US president Donald Trump says he believes abortion should be left to the states in a video outlining his position after months of mixed messages and speculation.
“Many people have asked me what my position is on abortion and abortion rights,” Mr Trump said in the video posted on his Truth Social site yesterday.
“My view is now that we have abortion where everybody wanted it from a legal standpoint, the states will determine by vote or legislation or perhaps both. And whatever they decide must be the law of the land – in this case, the law of the state.”
Mr Trump declined to lay out a timeline for when he believes abortion should be banned. He went on to describe the current legal landscape, in which different states have different restrictions following the US Supreme Court decision ending Roe v Wade.
“Many will have a different number of weeks or some will have more conservative than others,” he said. “At the end of the day it’s all about will of the people.” Mr Trump, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, had written on his social media site Sunday night that he planned to issue a statement on “abortion and abortion rights” after he sidestepped questions about when in a pregnancy he believes the line should be drawn.
Republican-led states have ushered in new restrictions following the overturning of Roe v Wade in 2022. Democrats believe the fight over abortion rights helps them at the polls and have outperformed expectations in elections since.
“You must follow your heart on this issue,” Mr Trump said in his message. “But remember, you must also win elections to save our country.”
Mr Trump had long argued that the Supreme Court’s decision overturning Roe gave those who oppose abortion rights “tremendous power to negotiate.”
He said he wanted to use that leverage to strike a deal that he hoped would “make both sides happy” and bring the country “together” — even though the issue is one of the most contentious in American politics, with opponents viewing abortion as murder and proponents seeing it as a fundamental women’s right.