Tuesday, April 9, 2024
Year : 2, Issue : 15
In a Truth Social post outlining his view of reproductive rights, former US president declined to endorse a national abortion ban.
Donald Trump on Monday announced his belief that individual US states should decide the legality of abortion, declining to endorse a national ban on the procedure.
The former president’s stated position dashed hopes of anti-abortion groups, who want a federal ban, and drew the ire of Democrats, who blame Trump for outright bans and severe restrictions already in place across the south and midwest.
Trump’s announcement had been highly anticipated by Democrats, who believe the fight over abortion rights helps them at the polls, and Republicans, who failed to push Trump to endorse a national abortion ban during their party’s primary.
In a four-minute video post on Truth Social, Trump said it was “up to the states to do the right thing” while also touting his work to confirm the conservative supreme court justices who ultimately overturned Roe v Wade in 2022.
“States will determine by vote or legislation, or perhaps both,” Trump, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, said in the videotaped address. “Whatever they decide must be the law of the land, or in this case the law of the state.”
In a statement on Monday, Marjorie Dannenfelser, the president of SBA Pro-Life America, one of the most powerful anti-abortion groups in the country, said she was “deeply disappointed” in Trump’s position.
Trump suggested last month in a radio interview that he was leaning toward supporting a national abortion ban at about 15 weeks of pregnancy – which is early in the second trimester.
The Associated Press contributed reporting
