Trump indicates he is open to a 15-week federal abortion ban, but says it should be a state issue
WASHINGTON — Former President Donald Trump suggested that he is open to a 15 week federal ban on abortion, but also continued to equivocate on the issue.
“The number of weeks now, people are agreeing on 15, and I’m thinking in terms of that, and it’ll come out to something that’s very reasonable,” Trump said in an interview on WABC radio Tuesday. “But people are really — even hard-liners are agreeing — seems to be 15 weeks, seems to be a number that people are agreeing at.”
Trump also said he would make a specific abortion proposal “at the appropriate time,” and added that it should be a state-by-state issue pursuant to the Supreme Court decision overturning Roe v. Wade in 2022.
Trump’s latest comments come after months of flip-flopping on the issue. The New York Times had previously reported that Trump privately told his advisors he supports a 16-week ban on abortion, though his campaign shot down the report as “fake news.”
“The issue of abortion, we brought it back to the states,” Trump said. “And everybody agrees, you’ve heard this for years, all the legal scholars on both sides agree, it’s a state issue. It shouldn’t be a federal issue, it’s a state issue.”
The Biden campaign highlighted Trump‘s comments saying he wants to ban abortion nationwide. It sent out a statement from Amanda Zurawski, the Texas woman who is suing her state over its abortion ban.
“My family has been forever altered by the nightmare that Donald Trump created by overturning Roe,” she said. “I nearly died because my doctor could not give me the care I needed — and my ability to have children in the future has been forever compromised by the damage that was caused.”
Trump also told Fox News last month that he remains undecided on the limit of a possible abortion ban saying, “More and more, I’m hearing 15 weeks and I haven’t decided yet. Also we got it back to the states where it belongs.”
The former has previously said that Republicans should be careful with the abortion issue, arguing it hurt GOP candidates in the 2022 midterm elections. During a Fox News town hall in January, Trump said Republicans should seek consensus on the abortion issue in order to "win elections."
Meanwhile, anti-abortion organizations that support Republican candidates are pressuring Trump to support federal legislation to essentially ban the practice.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Trump suggests he is open to a 15 week federal ban on abortion
