Trump sidesteps another question about support for a nationwide abortion ban

Former President Donald Trump stepped around another question Thursday about whether he would sign a national 15-week abortion ban, should he be back in office for a second term in 2025. 

Speaking with New Hampshire station WMUR, the Republican candidate said his administration would “look at” the ban that’s been proposed by South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham. 

“We’re looking at a lot of different options. We got it back to the states. We did the Roe v. Wade thing, which they’ve been trying to get it done for 50 years,” Trump said, adding that he had appointed “incredible justices and federal judges.

He said that “everyone [would be] very satisfied” by his decision on the divisive issue. 

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Trump was asked whether that statement meant on the national level. 

“I think we’ll get it done on some level. It can be on different levels, but we’re going to get it done,” he added. “I know the issue very well. I think I know the issue better than most, and we will get that taken care of.”

Trump had previously given a similar answer when asked that question by The Associated Press in March, although previously referring to himself as “the most pro-life president in American history.”

Trump’s campaign had released a statement suggesting that he supported having the issue of abortion access settled at the state level – drawing harsh rebuke from pro-life activists.

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“President Trump’s assertion that the Supreme Court returned the issue of abortion solely to the states is a completely inaccurate reading of the Dobbs decision and is a morally indefensible position for a self-proclaimed pro-life presidential candidate to hold,” Majorie Dannenfelser, who leads the socially conservative organization Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America, said in a statement.

She had previously asserted that “life is a matter of human rights, not states’ rights,” and that “no one gets a pass.” 

Dannenfelser said she had spoken with most of the prospective members of the GOP field, and believed they would all embrace a federal ban. The pro-life group said it would not support any White House candidate who does not at a minimum back a 15-week federal abortion ban.

Several Republican presidential contenders have been pressed on the issue in recent weeks and all Republicans in the 2024 presidential race or moving toward running have supported state bans. Most have been more cautious regarding a nationwide ban.

 

Speaking before evangelicals in Iowa, Trump won applause noting that he was the first president to attend the annual March for Life rally.

“Those justices delivered a landmark victory for protecting innocent life. Nobody thought it was going to happen,” Trump said of the overturning of the landmark Roe v. Wade ruling last year, appearing via video to a gathering of the Iowa Faith and Freedom Coalition. “They thought it would be another 50 years. Because Republicans had been trying to do it for exactly that period of time, 50 years.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report.