Donald Trump suggested on Tuesday that he'd support a national ban on abortions around 15 weeks of pregnancy, voicing for ♊the first time support for🐽 a specific limit on the procedure.
The Republican former president haꩲs taken cred🍎it for striking down a federally guaranteed right to abortion by appointing three US Supreme Court justices who voted to overturn Roe v. Wade.
As he seeks the🌼 White House a third time, Trump has refrained from embracing any specific limit on the procedure, warning it could backfire politically and instead suggesting he would “negotiate” a policy on abortion that would include exceptions for cases of rape, incest and to protect the life of the mother.
But in a radio interview Tuesday, Trump criticiඣsed Democrats for not endorsing a ban that would limit abortions in stat🍸es that still allow the procedure.
“We're going to come up with a time — and maybe we could bring the country together on that issue," Trump said while calling into the “Sid and Friends in the Morning” show on💞 WABC.
Trump went on to say: “The number of weeks now, people are agreeing on 15. And I'm thinking in t💮erms of that. And it'll come out to something that's very reasonable. But people are really, even hard-liners are agreeing, seems to be, 15 weeks seems to be a number that people are agreeing at."
At the same time, Trump seemed to sug🦩ges꧋t reluctance to a federal ban.
“E♛verybody 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 stat🎀e issue,” he said.
Last month, Trump's campaign dismissed reports that he privately had expressed for a ban on abortion after 16 weeks o🐈f pregnanc⛄y, calling the report “fake news”.
The campaign did not offer details on Trump's plans, only saying he planne♌d to “negotiate a deal” on abortion.
Later Tuesday, after casဣting his ballot in Florida's Republican presidentia👍l primary, Trump was asked by a reporter about a ban on abortions at 16 weeks and said, “We'll be talking about that soon.”
Abortion rights have been a galvanising issue for voters in recent years, and Democrats and President Joe Biden's campaign are preparing to spotlight the issue 🐎as a clear split from Trump in the 2024 election.
Polling has consistently shown that most Americans believe abo♈rtion should be legal through the initial stages of pregnancy. About half of US adults said abortions should be permitted at the 15-week mark, according to an Associated Press-NORC Centre for Public Affairs Research poll conducted last June.
