Trump now says abortion is state issue
Former president backs away from previous support for 16-week national ban
Former President Donald Trump said in a video statement Monday that abortion rights should be left up to the states, remarks that came after months of mixed signals on an issue he and his advisers have worried could cost him dearly in the election.
Trump said the states should decide through legislation, and that “whatever they decide must be the law of the land, and in this case, the law of the state.” But he added he was “strongly in favor of exceptions for rape, incest and life of the mother.”
“Many states will be different; many will have a different number of weeks,” Trump said in the video posted on his Truth Social website. “At the end of the day, it’s all about will of the people,” he added. “That’s where we are right now and that’s what we want — the will of the people.”
Trump’s comments came as Democrats, who saw their voting base energized against Republicans in 2022 after the repeal of Roe v. Wade, have attacked the former president at every turn on the issue of abortion.
Trump, who has been trying to balance his desire to please the conservative base with his attempts to avoid alienating swing voters, faced blowback after he said privately and later publicly he liked the idea of a 16-week national ban. Trump’s advisers tried to find a way for him to avoid a more specific position at a time when Republicans across the country are struggling with how to address abortion.
Since the Supreme Court overturned Roe, anti-abortion groups have called for a national ban, which would face steep odds in the House and Senate. Trump did not refer to a national ban in his remarks, but his comments about leaving the matter to the states suggested he was trying to avoid being pulled deeper into the issue.
But politically, Trump’s announcement that abortion should be left to the states will allow Democrats to tag him with some of the strictest abortion laws in the country, including a six-week ban in Florida.
In a statement, President Joe Biden accused Trump, who appointed three conservative Supreme Court justices who were pivotal in overturning Roe, of fostering “cruelty” and “chaos” surrounding abortion. He said Trump’s new position was effectively an endorsement of tougher abortion restrictions passed by some states.
He also contended Trump, despite his statement, would be likely to back a federal abortion ban if he won in November.
“If Donald Trump is elected and the MAGA Republicans in Congress put a national abortion ban on the Resolute Desk, Trump will sign it into law,”he said.
By contrast, Trump’s remarks drew blistering criticism from his former vice president, Mike Pence, a staunch conservative whose presence on the 2016 presidential ticket was vital in giving Trump, a billionaire former abortion rights supporter, credibility with evangelicals.
“President Trump’s retreat on the Right to Life is a slap in the face to the millions of pro-life Americans who voted for him in 2016 and 2020,” Pence wrote on the social platform X, adding, “I know pro-life Americans will never relent until we see the sanctity of life restored to the center of American law in every state in this country.”