Donald Trump often bragged about his role in eliminating federal abortion rights. “I could have killed Roe v. Wade,” he has bragBut as the November election approaches, when reproductive rights are likely to be a deciding issue in the vote, the former president has sought to soften and obscure his stance—including on a ballot measure in his home state of Florida.
Speaking to NBC News on Thursday, Trump propose six-week ban issued by the Governor Ron DeSantis was “too short”: “I told them I wanted more weeks,” the former president said. But his lack of clarity left him some wiggle room, and his campaign quickly issued a statement emphasizing that he had not yet said how he would vote on the Florida ballot initiative. “He simply reiterated that he believes six weeks is too short,” the statement read.
Trump’s comments—which he has previously speak he will discuss it at a press conference “at some point in the near future” — which comes on the same day he announced that a second Trump administration would pay for Americans’ IVF treatments. “We just think it’s great, and we need wonderful babies, beautiful babies in our country,” he told NBC News. Earlier this summer, Republicans passed a policy platform that advocated for states to establish fetal personhood through legislation and access to IVF. However, it’s unclear how the party will support both, as they are considered to be at odds. Trump speak Tulsi Gabbard at a Wisconsin town hall on Thursday that he is “really, really supportive” of IVF. “We want to have babies in this country, right?” he said. “We want to have babies.”
Trump—who just months ago spoke to a group seeking to “abolish” abortion—trying to neutralize attacks from Kamala Harris about his extreme record on reproductive freedom. But in an effort consider yourself a moderate On this issue, he may be risking the support of some of the anti-abortion activists who helped get him elected the first time: “It’s disappointing to say,” said anti-abortion activist Lilac Rose speak Politico on Thursday, “but perhaps he personally lacks principle on this issue.”
Of course, the former president was “unprincipled” on most issues. all problem. But his extreme record betrays his ambivalence: His first term led to the collapse of Caviar—and if he wins in November, Harris warned At a rally on Thursday, “Donald Trump will go further.”
