Former President Donald Trump bragged about eliminating abortion rights in the U.S. during a news conference Friday at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach, Florida.
“We don’t need it any longer because we broke Roe v. Wade,” Trump said on Friday. “The states are working very brilliantly. It’s working the way it’s supposed to.”
His comments come after the Arizona Supreme Court ruled Tuesday that an 1864 law criminalizing nearly all abortions can go into effect and override the state’s previous ban on abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy. The ruling, which is expected to draw legal challenges, has been stayed for 14 days pending additional arguments in a lower court.
At least 14 states that have banned abortions since the landmark Roe v. Wade ruling was overturned by the U.S. Supreme Court in June 2022.
“The states are working their way through it. You’re having some very, very beautiful harmony. You have some cases like Arizona that went back to 1864... but that’s going to be changed, I disagree with that,” Trump said.
Despite his history of anti-abortion policies, supporting anti-abortion lawmakers and lauding himself for his role in overturning Roe v. Wade, the presumptive GOP presidential nominee has been intentionally vague about his stance on abortion rights.
Earlier this week, Trump admitted that he would not sign a national ban on abortions and instead supports leaving the decision up to the states. His supposed “middle ground,” or compromise, on the divisive issue appears to be an attempt to garner more votes, but has been criticized by abortion rights groups and Democrats.
On Friday, Vice President Kamala Harris blamed Trump for the ruling on the archaic anti-abortion law in Arizona and said that he would sign a federal abortion ban if elected president again. Trump allies have also vowed to create a backdoor restriction on abortion access by enforcing the 1873 Comstock Act, which would ban mailing “obscene, lewd, lascivious, indecent, filthy or vile” material and any contraceptive device or medication.
“We all must understand who is to blame. Former President Donald Trump did this,” Harris said. “Donald Trump is the architect of this health care crisis. And that is not a fact, by the way, that he hides. In fact, he brags about it.”
Even if a national abortion ban isn’t enacted in another Trump presidency, an increasing number of states restricting and banning abortion procedures could put a strain on neighboring states that are maintaining abortion rights, which would endanger abortion access nationwide.