Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump said he was inclined to support a national ban on abortion from 15 weeks of gestation, but defended exceptions for rape, incest and to save the mother’s life, saying that “you have to win elections”.
As a result, the candidates’ stance on abortion should be a determining issue for some voters in this year’s US presidential election, in which Trump will try to unseat President Joe Biden, of the Democratic Party.
Former President Trump, whose three U.S. Supreme Court nominees secured the majority needed to overturn a landmark decision granting the constitutional right to abortion in 2022, was not specific about whether he would sign a national ban into law.
In a radio interview on Tuesday (19), he came close.
“The number of weeks now, people are agreeing on 15. And I’m thinking in terms of that. And this will result in something very reasonable. But people are really agreeing, even the most radical, it seems like 15 weeks is a number that people are agreeing on,” Trump said on WABC’s “Sid & Friends in the Morning.”
He said he will make an announcement about his final position at the appropriate time.
Trump has said he supports exceptions to the abortion ban when it comes to rape, incest or to save the life of the mother, which he said the vast majority of Republicans support.
He also conveyed a message to Republicans who advocate a tougher approach: “The problem is this: you have to win elections. Otherwise, you will be back where you started.”
Biden’s campaign has targeted Republican restrictions on reproductive rights in some states after the Supreme Court in 2022 overturned the ruling in the landmark Roe vs. Wade case. Wade. Voters responded by limiting Republican gains in that year’s midterm elections.
