Former President Donald Trump clarified Tuesday evening that he would veto a Congress-passed ban on abortion nationwide, the first time he’s publicly clarified that he would do so.
“Everyone knows I would not support a federal abortion ban, under any circumstances, and would, in fact, veto it, because it is up to the states to decide based on the will of their voters,” Trump posted on X in all caps.
“Like Ronald Reagan before me, I fully support the three exceptions for rape, incest, and the life of the mother. I do not support the Democrats radical position of late term abortion like, as an example, in the 7th, 8th, or 9th month.”
Since April, the 45th president has taken a position of deferring to the states on abortion policy, while talking around the prospect of a federal ban on the procedure.
Under Trump’s direction, the GOP scrubbed references to a constitutional amendment banning abortion, which had been a core position since 1976, from the party’s platform.
For months, whenever questioned about whether or not he’d veto a federal ban, Trump, 78, demurred.
“I won’t have to,” he told ABC News debate moderator Linsey Davis Sept. 10, before rambling about how Harris, 59, would lack support to codify the Supreme Court’s since-overturned Roe v. Wade ruling.
GOP vice presidential nominee JD Vance had said publicly that Trump would veto a national abortion ban if it came across his desk, only for the Republican nominee to play down his running mate’s comments.
“I didn’t discuss it with JD, in all fairness,” the 45th president said at the Sept. 10 debate. “I don’t mind if he has a certain view, but I think he was speaking for me but I really didn’t.”
Vance later backtracked, claiming that he “learned my lesson on speaking for the president before he and I have actually talked about an issue.”
Trump’s softer stance on abortion has drawn ire from elements of the pro-life community, which has largely aligned itself with the Republican Party for decades. He has sought to avoid hemorrhaging support from them by warning about Democrats’ support for abortion at any point during a pregnancy.
The real estate mogul had once been staunchly pro-choice — at one point defending so-called partial birth abortion — but had moved in the pro-life direction by 2011.
Polls have long shown Republicans underwater on the question of who is trusted to handle the abortion issue, particularly among women, who usually outpace men in general election turnout.
“My Administration will be great for women and their reproductive rights,” Trump declared on Truth Social back in August, using verbiage that is often associated with proponents of abortion access.
Trump has also boasted about appointing three Supreme Court justices who voted to overturn Roe v. Wade in June 2022.
“As a Republican who proudly wants to protect innocent life in this country, who proudly wants to protect the vulnerable … we’ve got to do so much better of a job at earning the American people’s trust back on this issue where they, frankly, just don’t trust us,” Vance said during his debate Tuesday.
“That’s one of the things that Donald Trump and I are endeavoring to do. I want us as a Republican Party to be pro-family in the fullest sense of the word.”
