US Presidential hopeful Donald Trump says ‘laws are set’ on abortion

PRESIDENTIAL hopeful Donald Trump has said US abortion laws should remain unchanged, although he believes the procedure amounts to murder.

Donald Trump

PRESIDENTIAL hopeful Donald Trump has said US abortion laws should remain unchanged, although he believes the procedure amounts to murder.

Trump has been criticised by abortion supporters and opponents for not being clear about his position on the hot-button political issue.

Abortions are still fiercely opposed by many Republicans, four decades after the US Supreme Court affirmed its legality nationwide.

“The laws are set now on abortion and that’s the way they’re going to remain until they’re changed,” Trump said in an interview with the CBS News program Face the Nation.

Later in the interview, which will air in full on Sunday, Trump said he agreed that “abortion is murder”.

Hours after the interview excerpt was released on Friday, Trump campaign spokesman Hope Hicks denied his candidate was backtracking on his opposition to abortion.

“Mr. Trump gave an accurate account of the law as it is today and made clear it must stay that way now — until he is president,” Hicks said.

NEW YORK, NY — OCTOBER 17: Presidential candidate Donald Trump attends the fight between Gennady Golovkin against David Lemieux for their WBA/WBC interim/IBF middleweight title unification bout at Madison Square Garden on October 17, 2015 in New York City. (Photo by Al Bello/Getty Images)

“Then he will change the law through his judicial appointments and allow the states to protect the unborn. There is nothing new or different here.” The 69-year-old Trump — who has been a Democrat, a political independent and is only a recent convert to the “pro-life” anti-abortion position — has been accused of flip-flopping on the issue.

Trump shocked many television viewers in an interview broadcast Wednesday on MSNBC when he said “there has to be some form of punishment” for a woman who has an abortion.

Presidential hopeful ... Donald Trump recently said ‘laws are set’ on abortion. Picture: AP.

The Trump campaign later issued a statement saying that if abortion were to become illegal under US law, then the doctor or any other person involved in performing the procedure would be legally responsible.

“The woman is a victim in this case as is the life in her womb,” the statement read. “I am pro-life with exceptions.”