President Donald Trump clarified his stance on abortion, in response to a question from a pro-life voter who said that the issue was the most important for her.
In his past campaigns, President Trump presented himself as strongly pro-life, pushing for the end of Roe v. Wade and strongly criticizing abortion.
The voter pointed out that recently President Trump has spoken out against some of the strictest anti-abortion statutes. Trump has said that these statutes are politically unpopular and bad for the Republican Party. Specifically, President Trump has criticized some bills that effectively ban abortion at six weeks.
President Trump called the overturn of Roe v. Wade “a miracle,” but said Republicans need to be mindful of the effects of strict abortion policies on the GOP’s electoral success.
He explained that he’s opposed to abortion, but maintained his opposition to so-called “heartbeat bills,” which ban abortion once a heartbeat is detectable.
“A lot of people ... talk five or six weeks, a lot of women don’t know if they’re pregnant in five or six weeks,” he said.
He also said he’s in favor of the most commonly-cited exceptions—the health or life of the mother, cases of incest, and instances of rape.
“But I will say this,” he added. “You have to win elections. Otherwise, you’re going to be back where you were, and you can’t let that ever happen again. You got to win elections.”
President Trump added, “I want to get something when people are happy. This has been tearing our country apart for 50 years.”
