Top line
Former President Donald Trump defended his comments about abortion early Sunday morning, days after attacks from Democratic politicians from the fallout of a Time Magazine interview in which he agreed states might choose to monitor women’s pregnancies to determine if they violated an abortion ban.
Trump previously said states “might” decide to monitor women’s pregnancies to determine if they … [+] violated abortion bans.
TNS
Key Facts
“I never said that ‘some states may choose to monitor women’s pregnancies to possibly prosecute for violating any abortion bans,'” Trump said in a post on Truth Social early Sunday morning, insisting he only supports abortion restrictions being left up to the states.
Democrats jumped on Trump’s comments immediately after the interview was released, with President Joe Biden telling supporters at a Washington fundraiser “he said… states should monitor women’s pregnancies and prosecute those who violate abortion bans.”
Trump did say he believed states might monitor pregnancies, but refused to endorse the tactic.
Trump also claimed that overturning Roe v. Wade returned abortion to state legislators, “where everybody, Republican and Democrat, plus all legal scholars and experts, have wanted it to be”—however, 57% of Americans opposed overturning Roe v. Wade after the Dobbs decision in 2022, a Pew Research poll from the time shown, and a CNN poll from last week found 65% of Americans oppose the Dobbs ruling now and only 37% agree that abortion should be determined by the states.
Key Background
Last week, Time Magazine published the transcripts of two interviews Trump gave in April. When asked whether he thought states should monitor women’s pregnancies so they can determine whether they violated an abortion ban, Trump replied “I think they might do that.” However, the former president also refused to endorse such tactics, and refused to endorse any hypothetical state restrictions on abortion, such as a 15-week ban. “I don’t have to be comfortable or uncomfortable,” Trump said. “The states are going to make that decision. The states are going to have to be comfortable or uncomfortable, not me.”
News Peg
Trump previously said he would refuse to sign a federal abortion ban, but in his interview last week, he also refused to confirm whether he would veto such a bill if Congress were to pass it. “There will never be that chance because it won’t happen,” Trump told Time. “You’re never going to have 60 votes. You’re not going to have it for many, many years, whether it be Democrat or Republican. Right now, it’s essentially 50-50.” On Sunday, Sen. Tim Scott, RS.C., echoed Trump’s new position in a “Meet the Press” appearance. Scott, who is a contender for Trump’s vice presidential nomination, previously said he would “advocate and fight for, at the minimum, a 15-week limit.” Scott refused to comment on whether he still supported a 15-week ban, instead telling host Kristen Welker “it will never get to the president’s desk.”
Surprising Fact
Trump and Scott both repeated a misleading claim that some Democrats advocate for “execution after birth,” a hypothetical after-birth abortion. “Nobody wants to see abortion in the 7th, 8th, or 9th month or, execution after birth, as some states, like the former Democrat Governor of Virginia said, was permitted,” Trump wrote on Truth Social, apparently referring to https://twitter.com/CalebJHull/status/1090657473218920448 made by former Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam in 2019 on a local news radio show. “When we talk about third trimester abortions, these are done with the consent of the mother, with the consent of the physicians—more than one physician, by the way,” said Northam, who was a pediatrician before running for office. “And it’s done in cases where there may be severe deformities, there may be a fetus that’s nonviable. So in this particular example, if a mother is in labor, the infant would be delivered, the infant would be kept comfortable, the infant would be resuscitated if that’s what the mother and the family desired, and then a discussion would ensue between the physicians and the mother. We want the government not to be involved in these types of decisions.” Trump has repeated the claim about “executions after birth” since at least 2020, and Scott appeared to echo this comment as well, telling Welker that Northam and other Democrats supported “infanticide.”
Further Reading
ForbesTrump Says Prosecuting Women For Abortion Is Up To Individual StatesCity Sarah DornForbesTrump Says He Won’t Sign Nationwide Abortion BanCity Brian Bushard
