Former President Donald Trump has spoken about his intention to push for abortion legislation in the US that would get the support of both Republicans and Democrats.
“I would like to see if we could make both sides happy,” the former president told Fox News Channel’s "MediaBuzz" on 17 March.
The overturning of Roe v. Wade by the Dobbs decision of the US Supreme Court has created a patchwork of often starkly contrasting abortion laws across the continental US – ranging from many red states protecting the unborn starting at conception or once there is detectable heartbeat to some blue states permitting abortion into the third trimester and even up to birth.
Trump has previously alluded to pushing for a 16-week ban, whereby federal law would supersede state law that permitted abortion later. Although Trump didn’t specifically mention a 16-week ban or respond directly to it being mentioned by the interviewer in the 17 March interview, Trump said he would like to see some sort of middle-ground legislation similar to what is seen in European countries, such as France, and in the rest of the “civilised world”.
While he criticised the “radical” nature of Democrat politicians who support late-term abortions in the seventh month of pregnancy and beyond, he also emphasised the three exceptions to any abortion ban that he would support: instances of rape, incest or if the life of the mother is endangered by a pregnancy.
Acknowledging the heated polarisation around the issue of abortion, the former president said: “You have to go with your heart, but beyond that you have to get elected and if you don’t have the exceptions, I think it’s very, very hard to get elected”.
