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After months of mixed signals, Donald Trump said that whatever states decide “must be the law of the land,” adding that he was “strongly in favor of exceptions for rape, incest and life of the mother.”
Maggie Haberman, Jonathan Swan and
Former President Donald J. Trump said in a video statement on Monday that abortion rights should be left up to the states, remarks that came after months of mixed signals on an issue that he and his advisers have worried could cost him dearly in the election.
Mr. Trump said his view was that the states should decide through legislation, and that “whatever they decide must be the law of the land, and in this case, the law of the state.” But he added that he was “strongly in favor of exceptions for rape, incest and life of the mother.”
“Many states will be different, many will have a different number of weeks or some will have more conservative than others, and that’s what they will be,” Mr. Trump said in the video, which he posted on his Truth Social website.
“At the end of the day, it’s all about will of the people,” he added. “That’s where we are right now and that’s what we want — the will of the people.”
Mr. Trump’s comments came as Democrats, who saw their voting base energized against Republicans in 2022 after the repeal of Roe v. Wade, have attacked the former president at every turn on the issue of abortion.
Mr. Trump, who has been trying to balance his desire to please the conservative base with his attempts to avoid alienating swing voters, faced blowback after The New York Times reported in February that he had said privately that he liked the idea of a 16-week national ban. He then talked about such a ban publicly, and the backlash continued. So Mr. Trump’s advisers tried to find a way for him to avoid a more specific position at a time when Republicans across the country are struggling with how to address abortion.
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Trump Says Abortion Restrictions Should Be Left to the States – The New York Times
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