Donald Trump says states should chart their own path on abortion

Donald Trump’s remarks avoid a position on the number of weeks at which the procedure should be banned as he tries to navigate an issue that has animated Democrats.

Presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump said abortion should be left to the states, avoiding a position on the number of weeks at which the procedure should be banned as he tries to navigate an issue that has animated Democrats.

“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,” Trump said Monday in a campaign video. “Many states will be different … At the end of the day, this is all about the will of the people.” The former president’s stance is unlikely to please religious conservatives who want him to embrace tougher restrictions, and one prominent group quickly expressed its disappointment. And Democrats are certain to continue to blame him for the 2022 Supreme Court ruling that ended the constitutional right to the procedure.

Trump has taken credit for putting three conservative justices on the high court during his administration, and he thanked the court on Monday for “having the courage to allow this long-term hard-fought battle to finally end.” He added: “This 50-year battle over Roe v. Wade took it out of the federal hands and brought it into the hearts, minds and vote of the people in each state.” State laws now run the gamut on abortion. Some places have virtually no access to abortion except in the most dire of medical emergencies, while other places have abortion access protected until the final weeks of pregnancy.

President Biden on Monday said in a statement that “if Donald Trump is elected and the MAGA Republicans in Congress put a national abortion ban on the Resolute Desk, Trump will sign it into law.”

Marjorie Dannenfelser, president of the antiabortion group Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America, expressed disappointment in Trump’s position, saying it ceded the national debate on abortion to Democrats. “If successful, they will wipe out states’ rights,” she said.

Trump had recently suggested he would settle on a number of weeks, perhaps 15 or 16, after which the procedure would be banned except for exceptions for rape and incest and to save the life of the mother. His comments had been viewed in the context of a national ban, but Trump has also said states should decide, leaving his position muddled.

“I think the recommendation will be accepted,” Trump said during a Fox News interview last month. He also said, “I would like to see if we could make both sides happy.” But Trump’s advisers didn’t see an upside in wading too deeply into the contentious issue, according to people familiar with his team’s thinking. In the end, Trump decided to stick with a message that states should decide, these people said.

Republicans have previously tried to test a 15-week ban with voters. In Virginia last year, Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin united GOP state legislative candidates behind such a ban with exceptions for rape, incest and life of the mother, arguing it was a reasonable middle ground. Democrats won majorities in both chambers.

More than a dozen Republican-led states have backed near-total bans on the procedure and abortion access is now significantly restricted in about one third of the country. Meanwhile, some states, including Democratic-leaning ones, have passed laws or ballot measures preserving broader access to the procedure.

Many women are travelling across state lines to receive abortion care, and the use of pills, often received in the mail, to conduct abortions has risen markedly. The failure of state bans to make a significant dent in the national abortion rate has prompted antiabortion groups to highlight nationwide restrictions that could potentially be more effective at curtailing access.

In Florida, where Trump is a resident, the state Supreme Court this month issued a ruling that clears the way for a ban on abortion after six weeks of pregnancy to take effect next month. In a separate decision, the state court approved a ballot measure that, if successful this fall, would undo that ruling and restore the broad abortion access the state had before the overturning of Roe V. Wade.

Trump has previously criticised six weeks as harsh but hasn’t commented specifically on the Florida rulings. “President Trump supports preserving life but has also made clear that he supports states’ rights, ” Brian Hughes, a Trump campaign senior adviser, said in a statement after the ruling.

Democrats have harnessed the issue in recent elections and state referendums. Biden has made it a centrepiece of his 2024 campaign, calling for nationwide abortion access – including supporting continued access to a widely used abortion pill called mifepristone, which can be used to end a pregnancy through 10 weeks of gestation.

Before he ran for president in 2016, Trump had supported broad abortion access before taking a more conservative stance. “I’m pro-life, and I was originally pro-choice,” he said during his first campaign. “I have evolved.”

Dow Jones