Former President Trump said he would “not block” abortion pills or abortion treatments if elected president.
During CNN’s simulcast of the presidential debate, Trump was asked about his stance on abortion and whether he would block women from having access to the abortion pill.
“First of all, the Supreme Court just upheld the abortion pill and I support that decision and I’m not going to block it,” Trump said.
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Former President Donald Trump held a rally in New York City on May 23, 2024, in the historically Democratic neighborhood of the South Bronx. (Spencer Pratt/Getty Images)
President Trump praised the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade and return abortion rights decisions to the states.
“I put three great justices on the Supreme Court who happened to vote to repeal Roe v. Wade and give it back to the states, which is what everybody wanted,” he said. “Right now the states are working through it.”
“Right now, each state is making their own decision,” Trump said.
“They’re making their own decisions now and the states are in control of it right now,” Trump said. “It’s a vote of the people.”
But Trump, like former President Ronald Reagan, insisted he believed in “exceptions.”
“I believe in exceptions. I’m a believer and, frankly, I think it’s important to believe in exceptions,” Trump said. “Some people need to follow their hearts, some people don’t. But I believe in exceptions when it comes to rape, incest, the life of the mother. I think that’s very important.”
He added, “Some people may not follow your heart but you have to win the election too. Elections are about other things so you have to win the election.”
A year ago, abortion rights demonstrators gathered outside the U.S. Supreme Court in Washington, D.C., to protest the overturning of Roe v. Wade. (Photographer: Valerie Plesch/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
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But Trump said Democrats were “extreme because they would take the lives of eight-month-olds, nine-month-olds and even babies just after birth.”
“The country is now united on this issue,” Trump said.
“That’s wonderful.”
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But Biden said that if he is re-elected, he would “reinstate Roe v. Wade.”
Trump fired back: “So he’s going to take the life of a nine-month-old baby? He’s going to take the life of a nine-month-old baby? In some Democrat-run states, they’re taking babies right after they’re born. The former governor of Virginia is going to euthanize the baby and then we’re going to decide what to do with it. So he’s going to, as we say, rip nine-month-old babies out of the womb and kill them. Nobody wants that, Democrats, Republicans. Nobody wants that.”
“You’re lying. That’s simply not true,” Biden responded.
Biden added, “I don’t support late-term abortion. Period.”
