Despite boasting about reversing Roe v. Wade, Trump remains inconsistent on abortion

Voters say abortion is a top issue in the Nov. 5 presidential election, second only to the economy. Despite its importance, however, former President Donald Trump has continued to change his positions on reproductive rights and abortion from one appearance to the next. 

Trump continues to boast about his role in the U.S. Supreme Court reversing Roe v. Wade in June 2022. He has said he believes abortion rights should be left up to the states. 

“My view is that now that we have abortion where everyone 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,” Trump shared on his Truth Social media platform on April 8.

In May 2023, Florida Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis signed a six-week abortion ban into law. In April 2024, Florida’s Supreme Court approved Amendment 4, a ballot initiative to amend the state constitution and protect and provide wider access to abortion.

If Amendment 4 passes in Florida, it will codify the right to abortion “before viability,” usually around 24 to 26 weeks of gestation.

Fewer than 1% of abortions take place at or after 21 weeks of pregnancy, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. 

In an Aug. 29 interview with NBC News, Trump, a Florida resident, appeared to support the abortion rights measure, telling NBC reporter Dasha Burns: “I think the six-week is too short. There has to be more time.” 

When Burns asked him if he would vote yes on Amendment 4, Trump said, “I am going to be voting that we need more than six weeks.”

Within hours of his comments, Karoline Leavitt, the Trump campaign’s national secretary, said in a statement that the former president “has not yet said how he will vote on the ballot initiative in Florida.”

One day later, on Aug. 30, Trump reversed course, telling Fox News that he would vote no on Amendment 4, calling it radical and repeating the falsehood that the measure would mean “doing an abortion in the ninth month.”

Trump has changed his position on other reproductive rights issues, including in vitro fertilization (IVF).

In February, the Alabama Supreme Court ruled that frozen embryos are legally children, a decision that could have led IVF clinics in the state to shut down. The decision sparked confusion and outrage nationwide. Less than a month later, Alabama Republican Gov. Kay Ivey signed a law protecting IVF patients and providers against being charged with a crime.

During the interview with NBC’s Burns in August, Trump claimed he fully supported IVF, saying, “We are going to be paying for it” for all Americans who use it “or we’re going to be mandating that the insurance company pay.”

He failed to say how his administration would fund fertility treatments.

Trump’s recent shifting statements echo Republicans’ struggles to connect with voters on the issue of abortion, according to an April 2024 analysis by the Brookings Institution.

“Republicans are thrashing around trying to get themselves out of the abortion ban they have tried to win for so many decades,” Brookings’ Elaine Kamarck wrote.

EMILYs List President Jessica Mackler released a statement about Trump’s recent vacillations on abortion: “It’s clear from his latest lies and flip-flopping on abortion that Donald Trump is scared — and he should be. After extensive research, EMILYs List has long known that women will decide this election and we are voting on abortion. Women know that Kamala Harris has an extensive record defending access, while Trump proudly overturned Roe v. Wade and will use Project 2025 to end reproductive freedom. In nine weeks, women will show Trump at the ballot box just how much they care about this issue.”