Trump on Abortion: ‘It’s Up to the States to Do the Right Thing’
Former President Donald Trump, the presumptive presidential Republican nominee for 2024, announced his abortion policy in a Monday Truth Social video in which he said that “the states will determine” the future of abortion in the U.S.
In the video, Trump touted his role in appointing three Supreme Court justices who helped overturn Roe v. Wade in the June 2022 Dobbs v. Jackson decision, but did not endorse a national abortion policy, as many pro-lifers hoped he would.
Instead, Trump said that, “at the end of the day,” abortion law in the U.S. is “all about the will of the people” and that “now it’s up to the states to do the right thing.”
What Trump Said
In what was a highly anticipated policy announcement, Trump backed away from any national abortion limits, saying: “My view is now that we have abortion where everybody wanted it from a legal standpoint, the states will determine by vote or legislation, or perhaps both, and whatever they decide must be the law of the land; in this case, the law of the state.”
“Many states will be different,” he said. “Many will have a different number of weeks, or some will have more conservative [policies] than others, and that’s what they will be. At the end of the day, this is all about the will of the people.”
The former president noted that he supports exceptions for rape and incest and to save the life of the mother, but urged people to vote according to their “heart, or, in many cases, your religion or your faith.”
“Do what’s right for your family, and do what’s right for yourself. Do what’s right for your children. Do what’s right for our country, and vote,” he said.
He called for unity on the life issues, saying that Democrats “are the radical ones on this position because they support abortion up to and even beyond the ninth month.”
“The concept of having an abortion in the later months and even execution after birth,” he said, “is unacceptable, and almost everyone agrees with that.”
Trump also voiced support for in vitro fertilization (IVF), a fertility treatment in which doctors fuse egg and sperm to create human embryos.
“I strongly support the availability of IVF for couples who are trying to have a precious baby,” he said. “We want to make it easier for mothers and families to have babies, not harder. That includes supporting the availability of fertility treatments like IVF in every state in America.”
He praised the Alabama Legislature for passing a new measure to give the IVF industry in the state blanket immunity from certain negligence and malpractice lawsuits, a move that Catholic bioethicist Carter Snead called “unjust” and a “shocking error in judgment.”
The Catholic Church is firmly opposed to IVF because it separates the marriage act from procreation and destroys embryonic human life.
Finally, Trump cautioned voters to “remember you must also win elections to restore our culture, and in fact to save our country,” which he said is “very sadly a nation in decline.”
“Our nation needs help. It needs unity. It needs us all to work closely together, Democrat, Republican, liberal, conservative — everyone. We have to work together,” he said.
