Donald Trump Says Abortion Legislation Should Be Left To States

Former President Donald Trump released a video clarifying his views on abortion policy Monday. He did not announce support for a national abortion ban, and instead stated that the issue should remain in the hands of individual states.   

While Trump took credit for the Supreme Court’s 2022 decision overturning Roe v. Wade, eliminating federal protections for abortion, the former president and presumptive 2024 Republican nominee did not call for further restrictions: “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. 

Last month, Trump signaled he intended to support a 15-week national abortion ban, saying that “people are agreeing on 15.” The New York Times had previously reported Trump was weighing a 16-week ban, explaining to people that it’s a nice, round number. Most House Republican lawmakers belong to a caucus that recently endorsed a 15-week national abortion ban.

“Many people have asked me what my position is on abortion and abortion rights, especially since I was proudly the person responsible for the ending of something that all legal scholars — both sides — wanted and, in fact, demanded be ended: Roe v. Wade,” Trump said in a video posted early Monday on Truth Social, falsely claiming that conservative attacks against Roe had universal support. 

He did not explicitly clarify whether or not he would support federal legislation limiting abortion access after a certain gestation limit. 

Trump did, however, attack Democrats as having “radical” views on abortion and falsely claiming that the pro-choice movement supports “abortion up to an even beyond the ninth month [of pregnancy.] The concept of having an abortion in the later months, and even execution after birth […] is unacceptable and almost everyone agrees with that.” 

“You must follow your heart on this issue but remember, you must also win elections,” Trump said, adding: “Like Ronald Reagan, I am strongly in favor of exceptions for rape, incest and the life of the mother.”

Several Republican-led states have enacted abortion bans with no exceptions. Later this month, the Supreme Court — where Trump built a 6-3 conservative supermajority — will hear oral arguments in a case from Idaho Republicans arguing that states should be able to block hospitals from providing emergency abortion care. The case calls on justices to end federal requirements that hospitals provide the procedure if it’s necessary to stabilize a mother’s health. 

The former president also clarified that he opposes restrictions on access to fertility treatments such as in-vitro fertilization, or IVF, which was temporarily banned in Alabama earlier this year following a decision by the Alabama Supreme Court finding that IVF embryos are people in the eyes of the law.