Former President Donald Trump posted a video to his platform Truth Social on Monday, April 8, sharing his stance on abortion. In the video, Trump said he wants to leave that decision up to the states.
This video received mixed reactions. While Trump is facing backlash on both sides of the aisle for taking the position he did, polls show that most Americans want abortion to be legal in some capacity.
“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 said. “At the end of the day, this is all about the will of the people. You must follow your heart or, in many cases, your religion or your faith.”
Trump said he is proud the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, which once protected abortion at the federal level. President Joe Biden is campaigning to have nationwide abortion protections restored.
“Donald Trump just endorsed every single state ban on reproductive rights nationwide,” Biden said in a response video. “If MAGA Republicans put a federal ban on his desk, he’d sign it. Donald Trump is the reason Roe was ended. If you reelect me, I’ll be the reason it’s restored.”
Many pro-life conservatives and Republicans have called for a federal abortion ban, so as the presumptive Republican nominee for president, some members of Trump’s party are criticizing his decision to back state-by-state restrictions and not a wholesale nationwide ban.
“Unborn children and their mothers deserve national protections and national advocacy from the brutality of the abortion industry,” Marjorie Dannenfelser, Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America president, said.
“President Trump’s retreat on the right to life is a slap in the face to the millions of pro-life Americans who voted for him in 2016 and 2020,” former Vice President Mike Pence said on X.
Polls show most Americans are in the middle over the issue, wanting abortion to be legal but only under certain circumstances. The majority of states have expanded abortion access since Roe v. Wade was overturned.
While it’s not the top issue for voters, in the recent past, Democrats credit abortion issues on ballots for several election victories. This year, Florida will vote on an amendment to its constitution to protect abortion rights just months after a six-week ban went into effect.
Trump is focusing largely on immigration this election cycle while abortion is a large focus for the Biden campaign.