A day after indicating some support for a referendum to protect abortion rights in Florida, Donald Trump said Friday he’s actually going to vote against it.
“Nine months is just a ridiculous situation, where you can do an abortion in the ninth month,” the Republican presidential nominee told Fox News Friday of the referendum.
If passed, Amendment 4 would amend Florida’s constitution to restore abortion access until fetal viability ― typically around the 6-month mark. Florida currently bans abortion beyond the sixth week of gestation, with limited exceptions.
Abortion late in pregnancy is extremely rare and often happens because the fetus would not survive after birth or because of serious threats to the mother’s health.
Trump, a Florida voter as of 2020, then claimed that blue-state abortion laws allow for the homicide of newborn babies ― a lie he often repeats.
“Some of the states like Minnesota and other states have it where you could actually execute the baby after birth, and all of that stuff is unacceptable,” he said. “So I’ll be voting no for that reason.”
Trump reiterated that he thinks that Florida’s current ban is too restrictive, even though he boasted as recently as last year that “without me there would be no six weeks, 10 weeks, 15 weeks” bans.
In recent months, Trump has increasingly tried to appear moderate on abortion ― a matter that’s proven to be a losing issue for Republicans since the fall of the Supreme Court precedent under Roe v. Wade in 2022. Vice President Kamala Harris’ presidential campaign has repeatedly told voters not to take his more relaxed stance on the issue seriously, pointing to his long record of opposing abortion access.
In response to Trump’s remarks Friday, Harris said he’s clearly aligned himself with the anti-abortion movement.
“Donald Trump just made his position on abortion very clear: He will vote to uphold an abortion ban so extreme it applies before many women even know they are pregnant,” she said.
“Of course he thinks it’s a ‘beautiful thing’ that women in Florida and across the country are being turned away from emergency rooms, face life-threatening situations and are forced to travel hundreds of miles for the care they need,” she continued.
When Trump suggested he’d vote in favor of the Florida amendment Thursday, saying he’ll be “voting that we need more than six weeks,” his campaign quickly backtracked.
“President Trump has not yet said how he will vote on the ballot initiative in Florida, he simply reiterated that he believes six weeks is too short,” campaign press secretary Karoline Leavitt said in a news release.
Measures like the one in Florida have passed in numerous other states since the fall of Roe. In all seven states that have put abortion questions before voters, including red states like Kansas, Kentucky and Montana and swing states Ohio and Michigan, voters have sided with abortion rights.