Republican presidential candidate, former President Donald Trump arrives to speak at a campaign event in Potterville, Mich., on Thursday.
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Alex Brandon/AP
Former President Donald Trump says he will vote in favor of abortion rights in his home state of Florida, where is it on the ballot. Says he thinks “six weeks” [ban] too short,” he said, adding that he favored “more time.”
When asked explicitly, “So will you vote for this amendment?”, Trump seemed to affirm that he would.
“I would vote that we need more than six weeks,” he said. NBC News in an interviewbefore saying he supported exceptions to abortion laws for the life of the mother, rape and incest.
Currently, abortions are not allowed in Florida after six weeks of pregnancy, except in rare cases. Voters will be asked in the general election whether to protect access to abortion in the state under Amendment 4.
The Trump campaign quickly denied the idea that the former president had revealed how he would vote.
“President Trump has not yet said how he will vote on the Florida ballot initiative, only reiterating that he believes six weeks is too short,” Karoline Leavitt, press secretary for the Trump campaign, said in a statement to NPR.
Former President Trump said that if he is re-elected, his administration will fund in vitro fertilization (IVF).
“I have always been pro-IVF. From the very beginning, as soon as we heard about it,” the Republican candidate said in a Interview with NBC News on Thursday.
Trump told NBC he would support public funding for in vitro fertilization or requiring insurance companies to cover it. The infertility treatment can cost tens of thousands of dollars.
“We do this because we think it’s great. And we need great kids, beautiful kids in our country, we really need them,” Trump said in the interview.
Some anti-abortion activists want to limit or ban on in vitro fertilization because the process often involves removing excess embryos. But most voters, including many Republicanssupport access to the process.
An Alabama Supreme Court decision earlier this year temporarily cut off access to IVF until the state legislators have intervenedforced many senior Republicans to weigh on this matter.
Trump’s comments came as he appeared to try to soften his image on reproductive rights ahead of the November election out of concern about voter backlash. Earlier in the campaign, he proudly took credit for overturning Roe v. Wadeby appointing three conservative justices to the Supreme Court.
Last week, Trump wrote on Truth Social that he would be “great for women and their reproductive rights.” That statement drew criticism from some abortion rights opponents, including his former vice president, Mike Pence. Trump also recently pointed out in a CBS News Interview that he would not use the 19th-century anti-obscenity law, the Comstock Act, to restrict abortion pills. That statement has also drawn opposition from some activists.
Harris-Walz’s campaign also issued a statement responding to Trump’s comments.
“Since Trump overturned Roe v. Wade, IVF has been under attack and women’s liberties have been stripped away in states across the country,” said a statement from spokeswoman Sarafina Chitika. “There is only one candidate in this race who believes in women and will protect our freedom to make our own health care decisions: Vice President Kamala Harris.”
Abortion is a major issue in this election, with Democrats warning voters that Republicans will further restrict access to reproductive health care if former Trump is elected.
