Former President Donald Trump said on Friday that he’d vote no on a ballot measure seeking to enshrine abortion access in Florida’s constitution, saying that a six-week ban is too short and a law allowing a nine-month abortion is too radical.
The proposed amendment to Florida’s constitution will be decided by voters in November. The Amendment to Limit Government Interference with Abortion aims to overturn the state’s six-week abortion ban and bar future legislation limiting abortion access.
The amendment, the state’s fourth, would guarantee the right to abortion before viability, which is usually around 24 weeks of pregnancy, and potentially up until birth.
In an interview with NBC News on Thursday, Trump was asked how he’d vote on the measure and said that the current six-week ban is “too short.”
After media reports interpreted this as a sign Trump would vote yes on Florida’s pro-abortion ballot initiative, the Republican candidate’s campaign clarified his stance.
“He simply reiterated that he believes six weeks is too short,” Trump campaign national press secretary Karoline Leavitt said in a statement.
Speaking to Fox News on Friday, Trump shed more light on his position, saying that he would vote against the ballot measure “because it’s radical.”
“And when you talk about radical … doing an abortion in the ninth month is unacceptable to anybody,” Trump said. “There’s something in between, but the six [weeks] is too short, it’s just too short a period, and the nine months is unacceptable.
“But for that reason, for the radicalization on the Democrat side, we’re voting no,” Trump said.
The proposed amendment states that “no law shall prohibit, penalize, delay, or restrict abortion before viability or when necessary to protect the patient’s health, as determined by the patient’s healthcare provider.”
The amendment would not “change the Legislature’s constitutional authority to require notification to a parent or guardian before a minor has an abortion.”
Trump also declined to commit to vetoing a federal abortion ban if elected, saying that states are handling it effectively.
“Well, what’s happening is you’re never going to have to do it because it’s being done by the states,” Trump said. “The states are voting, and the people are now getting a chance to vote, and this is the way everybody wanted it.”
On Thursday, Trump took credit for the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2022 decision that returned power to make abortion laws to the states, having appointed three of the five justices who voted for it.
“If you go back 10 years, 15 years, all they wanted to do is they wanted it back in the states,” he said. “They didn’t want it to be in the federal government. I was able to do that.”
Reproductive issues, including IVF and abortion, have been a key issue of both party’s platforms during this election cycle.
Trump has promised to offer free in vitro fertilization (IVF) to women in the United States, with details to be announced in the next couple of weeks.
He said Thursday that his administration plans to fund or require insurance companies to cover IVF, making it more accessible to Americans. While the plan’s specifics, including coverage for same-sex couples, are still under consideration, Trump emphasized his support for IVF, citing its benefits for families.
“We’re doing this because we just think it’s great,” he said Thursday. “And we need great children, beautiful children, in our country. We actually need them.”
The issue gained attention after Alabama’s Supreme Court ruled that embryos are legally children, leading to a temporary halt in IVF services in the state.
From The Epoch Times