Former President Donald Trump said in a new interview that he will make a decision “pretty soon” about whether to campaign on abortion limits ahead of the 2024 presidential election.
Trump, the presumptive nominee for the Republican Party, was rumored last month to privately express support for a 16-week abortion limit for the United States, though he has denied this report. The topic of abortion is expected to be a major issue for voters, as Roe v. Wade was overturned by the Supreme Court in 2022.
“So we’re going to find out, and pretty soon I’m going to be making a decision,” Trump told Fox News Mediabuzz host Howard Kurtz. “And I would like to see if we could do that at all, Howie. I would like to see if we could make both sides happy.”
The former president went on to claim that members of the Democratic Party are “the radicals” regarding abortion, arguing the party wants abortion access up to nine months. He then suggested that the Republican Party needs to “speak about the subject right,” stressing the importance of “the three exceptions” when discussing abortion bans, referencing exceptions for rape, incest, and the health of the mother.
“But I tell people, No. 1, you have to go with your heart,” Trump said. “You have to go with your heart. But beyond that, you also have to get elected, OK, and if you don’t have the three exceptions, I think it’s very, very hard to get elected.”
The topic of abortion has been a difficult one for the Republican Party to navigate in the wake of Roe v. Wade getting overturned, as Virginia Republicans lost control of the House of Delegates after Gov. Glenn Youngkin (R-VA) campaigned on a 15-week abortion ban with exceptions. Trump has also blamed the “abortion issue” for the Republican Party’s underperformance in the 2022 midterm elections, which resulted in the party barely winning the House back and failing to win a Senate majority.
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Ahead of the 2024 presidential election, former Vice President Mike Pence has said he will not endorse Trump, citing how the former president is “walking away” from traditional conservative policies. Pence made the statement even though he agreed to a pledge by the Republican National Convention that he, along with the other Republican candidates, could participate in the presidential debates so long as he supported the candidate who would become the nominee.
The Biden administration is expected to make a major push for abortion rights throughout the 2024 campaign trail, as Vice President Kamala Harris stopped by a Planned Parenthood clinic in Minnesota this past week. The visit was the latest stop on her “Fight for Reproductive Freedoms” campaign tour, which started earlier this year.