Former President Donald Trump said Monday he believes abortion policies should be left up to states to decide, ending months of uncertainty over his position on the hot-button issue and declining to endorse a 15-week ban as expected, as abortion rights has consistently become a winning issue for Democrats since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade.
Former President Donald Trump speaks to guests at a rally on April 2 in Green Bay, Wisconsin.
Whatever states decide on abortion “must be the law of the land,” Trump said in a video message Monday, after announcing Sunday he would soon be clarifying his position on the issue.
The ex-president boasted he was “proudly the person responsible” for the end of Roe v. Wade, after he appointed three Supreme Court justices who voted for the abortion-rights ruling to be struck down, falsely claiming that legal scholars had “demanded” it be overturned.
Trump also emphasized he believed in abortion bans having exceptions in the case of rape, incest and the life of the mother being at risk.
Trump had previously declined to commit to a position on abortion in the run-up to the November election, but had indicated he’d support a 15 or 16-week ban, making his announcement Monday more permissive on abortion rights than expected.
Abortion has been a winning issue for Democrats since the Supreme Court struck down Roe v. Wade, as polling shows most Americans broadly support the procedure remaining legal.
Trump told lawmakers to “follow their heart” on abortion policy, but “remember you must also win elections to restore our culture, and in fact, to save our country.”
Trump also emphasized Monday he “strongly support[s] the availability of IVF,” as the fertility process and its legality has come under controversy in the wake of an Alabama court ruling finding frozen embryos created through in-vitro fertilization should be considered children.
Whether Trump would actually leave abortion up to the states if he’s reelected. The former president has a history of flip-flopping on abortion, openly supporting abortion rights as far back as the 1990s before reversing on the issue in the 2016 election and going so far as to say “there has to be some form of punishment” for people who have abortions. Abortion rights supporters have also speculated that a future President Trump would likely capitulate to anti-abortion rights advocates once in office, who have urged him to impose a national ban on the procedure.
This story is breaking and will be updated.