Trump rejects national abortion ban, says states should decide but favours exceptions
- A call for a national ban could have hurt Trump’s chances in the six or seven US states likely to determine the outcome in November
- Former US president also said he is in favour of exceptions in cases of rape, incest and saving the life of the mother. He also supports IVF
Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump said on Monday that abortion laws should be determined by US states, stopping short of proposing a national ban that could have damaged his chances in the November election.
In a video post on his social media platform Truth Social, the former US president said he supported exceptions for rape, incest and to protect the life of the mother. He also reiterated that he supports the availability of in vitro fertilisation (IVF).
He did not back a national ban to prohibit abortions beyond a number of weeks into a pregnancy, disappointing some religious and conservative backers who had hoped he would pursue national limits should he return to the White House.
Trump previously signalled support for a ban beyond 15 weeks of pregnancy but said political considerations were paramount in the first presidential election since a Supreme Court ruling in 2022 ending a nearly 50-year federal right to the procedure.
“Always go by your heart. But we must win. We have to win,” Trump said in the video.
“My view is now that we have abortion where everybody wanted it from a legal standpoint, the states will determine by vote or legislation or perhaps both.
“And whatever they decide must be the law of the land. In this case, the law of the state.”
A call for a national ban could have hurt Trump’s chances in the six or seven US states likely to determine the outcome in November. Overall, 57 per cent of Americans think abortion should be legal in most or all cases, a March Reuters/Ipsos poll found.