CNN
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Donald Trump said Wednesday he would not sign a nationwide ban on abortion if elected president, walking back a promise the former president made as a candidate in 2016 and kept during his first term in the White House.
His latest change on abortion is a remarkable stance for a Republican presidential candidate and illustrates Trump’s desire to expunge one of his biggest political liabilities. This follows a lengthy statement issued Monday in which Trump said states and voters should decide how and when to restrict abortion, but he did not know how far he would take that approach.
Appearing on a tarmac in Atlanta, Trump provided a more definitive answer. Asked if he would sign a national abortion ban if it passed Congress, Trump shook his head. “No.”
“You wouldn’t sign it?” » asked the journalist.
“No,” Trump said again.
The response came a day after Trump’s first-term crusade to overturn Roe v. Wade has crystallized in a critical battleground state for her third bid for the White House. In a stunning ruling in Arizona, the state Supreme Court ruled Tuesday that the state must adhere to a 160-year-old law banning all abortions “except those necessary to save the life of a woman.” female “. The law at the center of the decision predates Arizona statehood.
In Atlanta, Trump sought to distance himself from the Arizona decision, although he again took credit for the U.S. Supreme Court ruling that allowed it. The campaign for President Joe Biden, which has already aired ads in swing states linking the presumptive Republican nominee to the nation’s most restrictive abortion laws, immediately dismissed Trump’s latest abortion salvo as baseless .
“Donald Trump is responsible for the suffering and chaos happening now, including in Arizona, because he proudly overturned Roe – something he called ‘an incredible thing’ and ‘pretty incredible’ today ‘today,’ said Biden campaign spokesman Michael Tyler. “Trump lies constantly – about everything – but has one track record: banning abortion every chance he gets. »
As a 2016 presidential candidate, Trump embraced a federal ban on abortion as he sought to shore up Republican support for his unexpected rise to the GOP nominee. He sent a letter to anti-abortion leaders pledging to sign a bill that would criminalize abortion after 20 weeks of pregnancy, with exceptions in cases where the mother’s life is in danger and in cases of rape or incest.
Trump reiterated his support for the bill in 2018 when he was president, telling a March for Life rally: “I strongly supported the House of Representatives’ Pain-Capable bill.” , which would end painful, late-term abortions nationwide, and I call on the Senate to pass this important legislation and send it to my desk for signing.
But Trump had been less clear on his position on a national ban since the U.S. Supreme Court — led by three of his nominees — struck down the federal right to abortion, making what was once a symbolic legislative cause an achievable result.
Throughout the 2024 Republican presidential primary, Trump has avoided definitive statements that could fuel Democrats in a general election or his Republican rivals vying for the nomination. He regularly dodged reporters’ questions on the subject and publicly acknowledged that the politically charged issue had hurt Republican candidates, particularly those who did not support exceptions in cases of rape, incest and when the life of the mother was in danger.
In recent months, Trump has suggested he might support a 15-week abortion ban, saying in a radio interview last month that “15 weeks seems like a number that people agree on.” However, he ultimately sided with his advisors who encouraged him to take the issue to the states.
Now the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, Trump’s attempts to resolve a thorny election-year issue have produced confusing signals for a Republican Party that has fought for decades to essentially ban the procedure. And it raises significant hurdles for the Republican Party’s longtime allies in the anti-abortion movement, already reeling from recent election defeats and facing more referendums in key battlegrounds this fall.
Trump on Wednesday reaffirmed his preference for states to determine the fate of abortion access in the country, saying, “The states will take care of it.”
“Some have handled it very well and some will end up handling it very well,” Trump said.
Yet Trump also undermined how two states handled the aftermath of the Dobbs decision.
He told reporters he thought the Arizona Supreme Court went too far in its decision and added that he believed the ruling would be “rectified.” Efforts were already underway in the state to advance a ballot initiative guaranteeing access to abortion.
“It will be fixed and I’m sure the governor and everyone will bring it back to sanity and it will be fixed, I think, very quickly,” Trump said.
Trump added: “Arizona is definitely going to change, everyone wants that to happen. »
Not everybody. SBA Pro-Life America President Marjorie Dannenfelser, a leading abortion advocate and former Trump ally, on Tuesday hailed Arizona’s decision as a “huge victory for unborn children and their mothers “.
Likewise, the former president also hinted that he expected a six-week abortion ban that will soon take effect in Florida “is likely to change” this fall when voters — including Trump, a resident of the Sunshine State – will decide on a referendum. this could guarantee access to the procedure in the state constitution.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who signed the six-week ban into law and later campaigned against Trump in the GOP primary, recently said he expected the referendum would not pass.
“Once voters understand how radical these two things are, they will fail,” DeSantis said earlier this month. “They are very, very extreme.”
In a statement Wednesday shortly after Trump’s speech, Dannenfelser made clear where his organization expected Republicans to vote on the abortion referendums in Arizona and Florida.
“Pro-life candidates and leaders must oppose this,” she said.
CNN’s Shania Shelton contributed to this report.
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