Former President Donald Trump says six weeks is “too short” an amount of time for a woman to decide whether to abort her child.
While speaking with NBC News ahead of a campaign rally in Potterville, Michigan, on Thursday, the former president was asked if he supports a ballot initiative in Florida that would nullify the state’s six-week abortion limit.
“Well, I think the six weeks is too short. It has to be more time,” Trump said. “And I’ve told them I want more weeks.”
Reporter Dasha Burns prompted the former president to clarify if that means he will vote for the proposed amendment, which would establish a constitutional right to abortion through fetal viability—and potentially up until birth—in the state of Florida.
“I am going to be voting that we need more than six weeks,” Trump replied.
National press secretary for the Trump campaign Karoline Leavitt told The Epoch Times: “President Trump has not yet said how he will vote on the ballot initiative in Florida, he simply reiterated that he believes six weeks is too short.”
The new law would also allow for abortion up until birth in cases where the mother’s health care provider deems it necessary to protect her health.
Trump has said he believes abortion should be decided by the states.
He has also said he believes there should be limitations on abortion but has shied away from specifying what those should be.
The former president has nonetheless been vocal in his support for legal exceptions permitting abortion in situations involving rape, incest, or a medical emergency.
“Exceptions are very important for me, for Ronald Reagan, for others that have navigated this very, very interesting and difficult path,” he told Burns.
Florida’s current law includes those common exceptions Trump has advocated for, with an added allowance for abortion in cases where the pregnancy is the result of human trafficking.
Those exceptions are available through 15 weeks of pregnancy.
There is also an exception for cases involving a fatal fetal abnormality if the pregnancy has not yet reached the third trimester.
Trump has also taken credit for the U.S. Supreme Court’s reversal of Roe v. Wade, which eliminated the federal right to abortion. Three of the five justices who voted to overturn the ruling were Trump appointees.
“Our country has been torn apart by Roe v. Wade for years. For years,” Trump said. “And if you go back 10 years, 15 years, all they wanted to do is they wanted it back in the states.
“They didn’t want it to be in the federal government. I was able to do that.”
