Former President Donald Trump told reporters Wednesday that he would not sign a federal abortion ban if he is elected to serve a second term in November, just days after the presumptive Republican nominee released a four-minute video statement saying that the legality of abortion should be determined by individual states.
"Would you sign a national abortion ban if Congress sent it to your desk," a journalist asked Trump during an Atlanta campaign stop.
"No," Trump said.
The reporter then repeated the question and Trump confirmed for a second time that he would not.
Abortion has proved to be a challenging issue for Republicans in the 2024 election cycle. Though overturning Roe v Wade was one of the party's long term goals, in the aftermath of their Supreme Court victory the GOP has found that restricting abortion is a losing issue at the ballot box.
In his video statement, Trump took credit for appointing the Supreme Court justices who appealed Roe v. Wade but urged Republican voters to prioritize victory in the 2024 race.
"My view is now that we have abortion where everybody wanted it from a legal standpoint," he said. "But we must win. We have to win."
This week Arizona Republicans were left scrambling after the state Supreme Court ruled that a 19th century law, that treats abortion as a felony, was constitutional. Politicians who celebrated the overturning of Roe v Wade decried the ruling as too extreme, in the highly competitive swing state. Trump distanced himself from the ruling, telling reporters that he agreed the court went "too far."
"That'll be straightened out, and I'm sure the governor and everyone else are going to bring it back into reason and that will be taken care of, I think, very quickly."
