On Thursday, former President Donald Trump suggested he would consider restricting access to mifepristone, a pill used for medical abortions. Within a day, his campaign fiercely hit back at Trump’s statement, claiming the former president got the question wrong.
Trump’s first-term record on reproductive rights is clear: Three of his Supreme Court picks led directly to repeal Roe v. Wade. But as that record has become a political liability, the former president has been evasive about how far he wants to go to reduce access to abortion in a post.Ro United States And this week, he made the matter even more muddled.
At a scattered news conference Thursday, a reporter asked Trump: “Would you direct your FDA, for example, to withdraw access to mifepristone?” Refers to one of two pills used in medical abortion. Drugs like mifepristone are now used in most abortions, and have enabled people around the country to bypass certain state restrictions.
“Sure, you can, you can do something that … will be completely complementary,” Trump said in response. “And these things are quite open and human. But you have to be able to have a vote, and what I want to do is give everybody a vote. Voting is happening as we speak.
It was an answer that, like many of Trump’s statements, was opaque. Given the phrasing of the question, he is acknowledging that instead of a national abortion ban, the federal government could do other “things” to “complement” state restrictions. Trump did not go into detail about which of these proposals he would pursue, however its ambiguity led by A lot to explain His reaction meant he would at least Be open to limitations Access to the abortion pill.
In a statement Clarifying her comments to NBC News, Trump’s campaign press secretary, Carolyn Levitt, countered that interpretation, arguing that some of the briefing’s questions were “hard to hear” and that the former president stood his ground. Revealed in a controversy earlier this year. “His position on mifepristone remains the same — the Supreme Court unanimously decided the issue and the matter is settled,” Levitt said in the statement.
The confusion — and subsequent correction — raises an important question ahead of Election Day: Where does Trump actually stand on abortion? The answers, ultimately, could have major implications for people’s access to reproductive health care, including the abortion pill, across the United States.
What Trump said about abortion
Throughout his campaign, Trump has repeatedly said that states should determine abortion laws, and he supports exceptions to the abortion ban in cases of rape, torture and threats to the mother’s life. As Levitt emphasized, he also upheld the Supreme Court’s decision to reject the mifepristone access challenge on the ground that the plaintiffs lacked standing. “The Supreme Court just approved the abortion pill, and I agree with their decision that it did and I will not block it,” he said. During the June presidential debates on CNN.
Trump has stopped supporting a federal abortion ban as part of his 2024 campaign platform.
“My view is that now that we have abortion where everyone wants it from a legal standpoint, the states will determine it by vote or by law, or perhaps both. And whatever they decide must be the law of the land. In this case, state law,” Trump said in an April Truth social video.
In July, the Republican National Committee Coordinate his policy platform To reflect Trump’s view, many GOP House lawmakers backed away from endorsing federal abortion bans. It’s a position that aims to diffuse some of the heat the GOP has faced on the issue — Americans generally, at least. Access to some abortions. But it tries to obscure how he might dismantle abortion rights in other ways.
Although he has expressed a more moderate stance, Trump has been vocal about his role in making Supreme Court decisions Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organizationthereby overturning the longstanding right to abortion guaranteed Ropossible That decision, which came down from the Supreme Court in 2022, saw all three justices appoint Trump to the majority bench — and has since enabled numerous states to approve stricter restrictions on reproductive health care.
“After 50 years of failure, with no one coming close, I was able to kill Roe v. Wade,'” Trump By Truth Social May 2023. “It won’t be 6 weeks, 10 weeks, 15 weeks, or whatever is finally agreed upon without me.”
In his first term, Trump also supported a 20-week federal abortion ban — and said he would sign it if Congress approved it.
While Trump may have said he doesn’t support the ban at this point, it’s not the only way he wants to restrict abortion at the federal level. And while he has not publicly committed to pursuing other restrictions, many Republicans — including his allies — are pushing the party to adopt additional restrictions, including on drug abortions.
Anti-abortion rights advocates have long advocated for the FDA to roll back approval of mifepristone, and that’s one of the proposals outlined in Project 2025, a GOP policy wish list pushed by the Heritage Foundation and other Trump allies. (There is Trump Tried to distance myself From the document, with Mixed success.)
Trump’s recent comments were interpreted by some as leaving room for these ideas to be considered. And despite his statement that abortion policy is something for the states to decide, as of January 2024 Washington Post storyTrump has also personally expressed interest in “Washington’s role.”
Should Trump win, and if his administration decides there is a role for the federal government, targeting medication abortions will be within the executive branch’s power. Mifepristone can be obtained through mail and telemedicine, both channels that some conservatives hope will be limited going forward by a second Trump administration.
Directing the FDA to take action to restrict mifepristone is one such approach. Another is to request the Department of Health and Human Services to inspect private practices to obtain abortion pills. And asking the Justice Department to enforce the Comstock Act, which punishes sending abortion pills through the mail, is a third.
Despite trying to take a less extreme position on the issue — perhaps for fear of alienating moderate female voters mobilized in recent elections — Trump’s recent comments suggest he still doesn’t have a simple answer on medication abortion, and a reminder that if he wins in November, he’s tough. Can weigh policy.
