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Former President Donald Trump says he believes abortion should be left to the states in a video released Monday outlining his position after months of mixed messages and speculation.
“Many people have asked me what my position is on abortion and abortion rights,” Trump said in the video posted on his Truth Social site. “My view is now that we have abortion where everybody 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.”
He declined to lay out a timeline for when he believes abortion should be banned. He went on to describe the current legal landscape, in which different states have different restrictions following the U.S. Supreme Court decision ending Roe v. Wade.
“Many states will be different. Many will have a different number of weeks or some will have more conservative than others and that’s what they will be,” he said. “At the end of the day it’s all about will of the people.”
Trump, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, had written on his social media site Sunday night that he planned to issue a statement on “abortion and abortion rights” after he sidestepped questions about when in a pregnancy he believes the line should be drawn.
Republican-led states have ushered in a wave of new restrictions following the overturning of Roe v. Wade in 2022. Democrats believe the fight over abortion rights helps them at the polls and have outperformed expectations in elections since.
“You must follow your heart on this issue,” Trump said in his message. “But remember, you must also win elections to restore our culture and, in fact, to save our country, which is currently and very sadly a nation in decline.”
Trump had long argued that the Supreme Court’s decision overturning Roe gave those who oppose abortion rights “tremendous power to negotiate.” He said he wanted to use that leverage to strike a deal that he hoped would “make both sides happy” and bring the country “together” — even though the issue is one of the most contentious in American politics, with opponents viewing abortion as murder and proponents seeing it as a fundamental women’s right.

Trump declines to endorse a national abortion ban and says it should be left to the states
The former president routinely takes credit for appointing the Supreme Court justices who overturned Roe v. Wade, which he has called a “moral and unconstitutional atrocity."
