Former President Donald Trump will reveal his stance on a national abortion ban soon and warned Republicans not to push for stringent laws that could adversely affect elections.
“If you look at France, if you look at different places in Europe, if you look at a lot of the civilized world, they have a period of time [for abortion]. But you can’t go out seven months and eight months and nine months.”
The former president said that his stance on abortions hasn’t hurt him “from the standpoint of elections.” However, many other Republicans have been “hurt a lot” by speaking on the issue. He suggested this was because GOP members were taking an extreme side on the matter.
“I think you have to have the three exceptions” to abortion laws, which refers to allowing abortions in cases involving rape, incest, and protecting the life of the mother.
“I tell people, number one, you have to go with your heart. You have to go with your heart. But beyond that, you also have to get elected. And if you don’t have the three exceptions, I think it’s very, very hard to get elected,” President Trump said.
“You have to go with the exceptions. And the number of weeks, I'll be coming out with a recommendation fairly soon. I think the recommendation will be accepted.”
President Trump had earlier warned Republicans against trying to implement too strict abortion policies as it could harm the chances of the party’s electoral success.
“A lot of people ... talk five or six weeks, a lot of women don’t know if they’re pregnant in five or six weeks,” he said. “I want to get something when people are happy. This has been tearing our country apart for 50 years.”
Polling on Abortion
Abortion is a key topic in the 2024 race. According to a recent KFF poll, 12 percent of respondents said that abortion was the most important issue in the elections.“More than 1 in 4 Black women voters (28 percent), and about a fifth of Democratic women (22 percent), women who live in states where abortion is banned (19 percent), women voters who plan to vote for President Biden (19 percent), and women of reproductive age (18-49) (17 percent) identify as abortion voters.”
“When voters are asked whom they hold responsible for new bans or restrictions, about half of voters attribute responsibility to the Supreme Court, while one-third attribute blame to Republicans in Congress (34 percent) and Republicans in state office (33 percent), and only 24 percent blame Trump,” it said.
“Only a slim majority of voters say the outcome of the 2024 presidential election is ‘very important’ when it comes to addressing abortion (52 percent), compared with other issues that land at the top like inflation (71 percent), taxes and government spending (65 percent), national security and foreign policy (65 percent), and immigration (64 percent).”
Some pro-life voters are torn on President Trump not embracing an all-out ban on the practice. During a March for Life rally in Washington earlier this year, one voter insisted that there should be no compromise on the issue.
Another voter was more supportive of the former president’s stance. “I think Trump is pro-life. I think we'll stick with his vote,” the person said.
“But politically speaking, you know, six weeks is a hard push. You know, my ultimate goal is [a] total ban on abortion. That’s what I would like. But politically speaking, you got to take one step at a time. And I think it’s where Trump is coming from.”
