NEW YORK (AP) — Former President Donald Trump said Friday he would vote no on a Florida ballot measure that would repeal the state’s six-week abortion ban, a day after he appeared to indicate he would vote for the measure.
Trump has said he thinks Florida’s ban is a mistake, saying Friday in an interview with Fox News Channel: “I think six weeks, you need more time.” But then he said, “at the same time, Democrats are radicals, And he repeated the false claims he’s often made about late-term abortions, saying he opposes allowing abortions up to nine months.
“So I’m voting no for this reason,” said Trump, who is registered to vote in Mar-a-Lago, Florida.
Florida’s ballot measure would legalize abortion until the fetus is viable. Health care providers use this term to describe whether the pregnancy is expected to continue normally or whether the fetus will survive outside the womb. It is usually considered to be around 23 or 24 weeks, which is around six months.
Trump drew backlash from pro-abortion supporters when he appeared to signal in another interview Thursday that he would vote for the ballot measure and overturn the six-week ban, saying: “I’m going to vote that we need more. more than six weeks.”
Amid the backlash, his campaign quickly released a statement saying Trump had not actually said how he would vote, but “simply reiterated that he thinks six weeks is too short a time.”
Trump has had several conflicting positions on abortion over the years. After briefly considering supporting a possible 15-week ban nationwide, he announced in April that regulation of abortion should be left up to the states.
In the months since, he has repeatedly taken credit for his role in overturning Roe, calling it “beautiful to watch” as states impose their own restrictions.
“Donald Trump just made his position on abortion very clear: He will vote to maintain an abortion ban so extreme that it will go into effect before many women even know they are pregnant,” Vice President Kamala Harris, his Democratic rival, said in a statement in response to Trump’s remarks. Friday’s comments.
