Former first lady Melania Trump declares her support for abortion access
Former first lady Melania Trump signaled her support for abortion access, a topic that has vexed her husband’s presidential campaign, in a video promoting her upcoming memoir.
Former first lady Melania Trump signaled her support for abortion access, a topic that has vexed her husband’s presidential campaign, in a video promoting her upcoming memoir.
“Individual freedom is a fundamental principle that I safeguard,” she said in the video posted on social media Thursday. “Without a doubt, there is no room for compromise when it comes to this essential right that all women possess from birth. Individual freedom: What does ‘my body, my choice’ really mean?” Abortion rights has become a complicated issue for her husband, former President Donald Trump.
https://t.co/ZCTwZSqZNDpic.twitter.com/Y9MT3uj97b
— MELANIA TRUMP (@MELANIATRUMP) October 3, 2024
Trump has bragged about his role in ending federal protections for the procedure, though he has repeatedly shifted his stance on how exactly he would regulate it. Access to abortion has shown to be a powerful motivator for voters and could play a major role in the suburban areas that may decide this year’s presidential election.
Melania Trump’s support for reproductive rights is more explicit in her memoir, according to an excerpt published by British news organization the Guardian.
“Restricting a woman’s right to choose whether to terminate an unwanted pregnancy is the same as denying her control over her own body,” Trump wrote in her memoir, according to the Guardian, which obtained a copy of the book.
Skyhorse Publishing, publisher of the memoir, didn’t respond to a request for comment.
The Trump campaign deferred comment to the former first lady’s office. Her office didn’t respond to a request for comment.
JD Vance, Trump’s running mate, acknowledged during Tuesday’s vice presidential debate that the GOP has often been out of step with voters on reproductive rights. Republicans “have to do a better job of winning back people’s trust” by improving access to child care and fertility treatments, he said.
Former President Trump has bragged about helping to end Roe v. Wade by appointing three of the Supreme Court justices who overturned it in 2022. He said on social media during the vice presidential debate that he would veto a national abortion ban, after declining to commit to such a veto during last month’s presidential debate.
Vice President Kamala Harris has made protecting abortion rights a central pillar of her campaign.
The Harris campaign didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment. A Wall Street Journal poll taken in late August found Harris ahead of Trump in a head-to-head matchup among women voters by 13 percentage points. Asked whether there was an issue they felt so strongly about that they wouldn’t vote for a candidate they disagreed with on it, 33% of women in the poll identified abortion -- the highest figure for any issue.
Last month, Trump said, “You will no longer be thinking about abortion” because the issue has now been returned to the states to decide.
Trump, a Florida resident, said in September that the state’s current ban on the procedure after six weeks of pregnancy was too restrictive and suggested he would support a ballot initiative allowing abortion until fetal viability, or about halfway through a typical pregnancy. One day later, he said he would vote no.
The Wall Street Journal
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