Trump backs abortion ban as he eyes up US elections

DONALD Trump said yesterday he was ‘strongly pro-life’, turning abortion into an election issue for next year’s presidential race.

Breaking his silence on abortion, the President said he was against it except in cases of rape, incest or saving the mother.

He said his views were the same as those of ex-president Ronald Reagan, and called on Republicans to ‘Win for Life in 2020’.

Alabama passed a near total ban on terminations last week, and more than a dozen other states are planning similar measures, hoping they will end up in the Supreme Court to overturn Roe v Wade, the 1973 ruling that guarantees abortion rights.

Mr Trump has changed his tune on the subject. In 1999 he said he was ‘very pro- choice’. But in 2016, when he needed the support of evangelists in the presidential election he said he was ‘pro-life with exceptions’.

He has now said he is ‘strongly Pro-Life, with three exceptions – Rape, Incest and protecting the Life of the mother’.

Doctors in Alabama can be jailed for up to 99 years for carrying out terminations, with no exceptions for rape or incest.