CNN
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Donald Trump said Wednesday that he would not sign a national abortion ban if elected president, repeating a promise the former president made as a candidate in 2016 and stood by during his first term in the White House. was withdrawn.
His recent policy shift on abortion is a notable position for a Republican presidential candidate and signals his desire to eliminate one of his biggest political responsibilities. This follows a lengthy statement released Monday in which President Trump said states and voters should decide how and when to restrict abortion, but it remains unclear how far he will take that approach. was.
Appearing on the tarmac in Atlanta, Trump offered a clearer answer. Asked if he would sign a national abortion ban if it passed Congress, President Trump shook his head. “no.”
“Aren't you going to sign it?'' the reporter asked.
“No,” Trump said again.
The reaction came a day after President Trump's first-term campaign to overturn Roe v. Wade took shape in battleground states crucial to Trump's third White House bid. In a surprising decision in Arizona, the state's Supreme Court ruled Tuesday that the state must comply with a 160-year-old law that bans all abortions “unless necessary to save the woman's life.” It was decided that it would not. The law at the center of the ruling predates the statehood of Arizona.
President Trump in Atlanta sought to distance himself from the Arizona ruling, even as he once again took credit for the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling affirming the Arizona ruling. President Joe Biden's campaign has already aired ads in battleground states linking the Republican nominee to the nation's toughest abortion laws, and quickly dismissed President Trump's latest abortion en masse as unworthy. .
“Donald Trump is responsible for the pain and chaos that is happening right now, including in Arizona, because he proudly overturned Roe,” Biden campaign spokesman Michael Tyler said. He today called it “unbelievable'' and “pretty amazing.'' “Trump lies about everything all the time, but he has one track record: banning abortion at every opportunity.”
As a presidential candidate in 2016, Trump embraced the federal ban on abortion in an effort to solidify Republican support for his unexpected nomination. He sent a letter to anti-abortion leaders pledging to sign a bill that would criminalize abortion after 20 weeks of pregnancy, unless the mother's life is at risk or involves rape or incest. did.
Trump reiterated his support for the bill in 2018, when he was president, saying at a March for Life rally: I ask the Senate to pass this important legislation and send it to my desk for signature. ”
But President Trump has become a nation-state since the U.S. Supreme Court, led by three of his nominees, overturned the federal right to abortion, turning what was once a symbolic legislative cause into an achievable outcome. He did not make his position on the ban very clear.
Throughout the 2024 Republican presidential primary, Mr. Trump avoided making any decisive statements that could be helpful to Democrats in the general election or to his Republican rivals for the nomination. He regularly dodges questions from reporters about the issue, and he says the politically thorny issue is a challenge to Republican candidates, especially those who don't support exceptions in cases of rape, incest, or where the mother's life is at risk. He publicly admitted that he was causing harm to others.
President Trump has hinted in recent months that he might support a 15-week abortion ban, saying in a radio interview last month that “15 weeks seems like a number that people agree on.” But he ultimately sided with his advisers, who recommended leaving the issue to the states.
Mr. Trump, now the Republican presidential nominee, is trying to move past a thorny election-year issue for the party, which has fought for decades to essentially delegitimize the process. This is a confusing signal. And that poses a major hurdle for the Republican Party's longtime allies in the anti-abortion movement, already reeling from recent defeats at the polls and facing further referendums in key battlegrounds this fall. It is something to raise.
President Trump on Wednesday reaffirmed his desire for states to decide what happens to abortion access in the country, saying, “Each state is taking charge.”
“And some people have handled it well, and some people will eventually handle it well,” Trump said.
But Mr. Trump also effectively undermined how the two states responded to the aftermath of the Dobbs decision.
He told reporters that he thought the Arizona Supreme Court's ruling went too far and that he thought it would be “corrected.” Efforts were already underway in the state to advance a ballot initiative that would guarantee access to abortion.
“This problem will be fixed, and I'm confident that the governor and everyone else is committed to making it right, and it will be addressed soon,” Trump said.
President Trump added, “Arizona is definitely going to change. We all hope that happens.”
Not everyone. SBA Pro-Life America President Marjorie Dannenfelser, a leader in the anti-abortion movement and a former ally of President Trump, called Tuesday's Arizona ruling “a huge victory for unborn children and their mothers.” praised.
Similarly, the former president also said that Florida's soon-to-be-enforced six-week abortion ban “will likely change” this fall, when voters, including Trump, a resident of the Sunshine State, will weigh in on a referendum. '', he suggested. It could guarantee access to state constitutional procedures.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who signed a six-week ban and campaigned against President Trump in the Republican primary, recently said he doesn't expect the referendum to pass.
“Once voters realize how extreme both of those things are, the policies will fail,” DeSantis said earlier this month. “They're very extreme.”
In a statement Wednesday, shortly after President Trump's speech, Dannenfelser made it clear what position the organization expects Republicans to take on abortion referendums in Arizona and Florida.
“Pro-life candidates and officials must oppose them,” she said.
CNN's Shania Shelton contributed to this report.