Former President Donald Trump has taken a public stance on when he believes abortions should be banned. He had previously declined to publicly disclose his position on the issue—one that could play a crucial role in the outcome of the upcoming presidential election.
The former president made the announcement on Truth Social on April 8, shortly after he posted the previous day that he planned to issue a statement on abortion. President Trump had also responded to questions from reporters last week regarding Florida’s six-week abortion ban, indicating that a statement would soon follow.
In the Truth Social video, President Trump stated that the abortion issue should be left up to the individual states.
“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,” he said. “At the end of the day, this is all about the will of the people. You must follow your heart or, in many cases, your religion or your faith.”
“It’s up to the states to do the right thing,” he said.
“Under my leadership, the Republican Party will always support the creation of strong, thriving, and healthy American families,” he said, indicating that if elected, he will support the availability of fertility treatments like in-vitro fertilization (IVF). “The Republican Party should always be on the side of the miracle of life,” he said.
Public Stance
President Trump had thus far declined to state at which point he believes it should be possible to legally terminate a pregnancy, if abortion is legal in a state. Some Republican-controlled states have implemented tighter abortion restrictions after the overturning of the landmark Roe v. Wade case in 2022.
“Great love and compassion must be shown when even thinking about the subject of LIFE,” President Trump wrote on Truth Social on April 8, “but at the same time we must use common sense in realizing that we have an obligation to the salvation of our Nation, which is currently in serious DECLINE, TO WIN ELECTIONS, without which we will have nothing other than failure, death, and destruction.”
Since Roe v. Wade was overturned, the former president has repeatedly stated that his aim is to unite the country on the controversial topic by proposing a solution that would appeal to voters on both ends of the political spectrum.
And while President Trump had not committed on the number of weeks of gestation that he sees as a compromise, he suggested last month in a radio interview that he was leaning toward supporting a national abortion ban at around 15 weeks of pregnancy—or early in the second trimester.
“The number of weeks now, people are agreeing on 15. And I’m thinking in terms of that. And it’ll come out to something that’s very reasonable. But people are really, even hard-liners are agreeing, seems to be, 15 weeks seems to be a number that people are agreeing at,” he said on WABC radio.
According to data compiled by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), a large number of the abortions carried out from 2012 to 2021 were performed within the first 13 weeks of pregnancy.
“Everybody agrees—you’ve heard this for years—all the legal scholars on both sides agree: It’s a state issue. It shouldn’t be a federal issue, it’s a state issue,” he said in reference to the overturning of Roe v. Wade.
Despite his reluctance to outline his position, however, 3 of the Supreme Court justices who voted to overturn Roe v. Wade were appointed by President Trump, and he has referred to himself as the “most pro-life president in American history.”
He has nonetheless argued in the past that exceptions should be made in cases of rape, incest, and when the life of the mother is at risk.
“A lot of politicians who are pro-life do not know how to discuss this topic, and they lose their election. We had a lot of election losses because of this, because they didn’t know to discuss it. They had no idea,” he said at the Concerned Women of America 2023 Leadership Summit.
Election Implications
A Rasmussen Reports poll published in March found, however, that “eight months before the presidential election, economic issues and immigration matter more to voters than abortion,” according to The Epoch Times.
Another poll published last month showed that “voters do not currently perceive Trump as a threat to abortion [access].”
“Only a slim majority of voters say the outcome of the 2024 presidential election is ‘very important’ when it comes to addressing abortion (52 percent), compared with other issues that land at the top like inflation (71 percent), taxes and government spending (65 percent), national security and foreign policy (65 percent), and immigration (64 percent),” the survey said.
