Donald Trump has signaled he could vote to end Florida’s ban on abortion at six weeks gestation when it is debated in a referendum later this year, as he continues his delicate dance around a key election issue.
In an exclusive interview with DailyMail.com, he teased an upcoming announcement on his voting stance by saying he did not think six weeks was enough time.
But he stopped short of committing to using the presidential veto if a nationwide federal ban reached his desk as president, even though his running mate said he would.
In office, Trump reveled in being the most pro-life president in history and took credit for ending federal abortion protections by installing conservative justices on the Supreme Court who overturned Roe v Wade.
This time, he’s trying to keep both sides happy on one of the election’s most divisive issues by saying it’s up to states to decide their own laws.
Donald Trump said he has already decided how he will vote in Florida’s upcoming referendum on banning abortions at six weeks gestation. “I think six weeks is a mistake,” he said. “And I’ll say that soon, but I want more than six weeks.”
That tightrope will be tested later this year when Florida, where Trump is a registered voter, holds a referendum on Amendment 4, which would abolish the state’s new ban on abortion after six weeks of pregnancy and replace it with a 24-week limit.
Trump said he has decided how he will vote.
“Well, I know, but I want more than six weeks,” she said in her ornate Mar-a-Lago living room. “I want more than six weeks.”
“I think six weeks is a mistake. And I will express this soon, but I want more than six weeks.
“And in Florida, we have a six-week program, and that’s what I think they’re voting for, and I think it should be longer than six weeks.”
Trump has expressed reservations about such an early ban in the past, but has so far sidestepped questions about how he will vote in the Florida referendum.
His electoral success in 2016 was driven in part by evangelical voters and he will need them again to win in 2024.
Steve Deace, a conservative radio host who is helping to build support against the amendment in Florida, has urged Trump to issue a statement announcing that he will support the state’s ban and warned that he risks being seen as someone who is “playing to the pro-lifers.”
Florida has one of the most restrictive abortion laws in the country, banning nearly all pregnancy terminations six weeks after conception. Many women don’t even know they’re pregnant at the time.
Trump now finds himself on the other side of the debate, facing off against people like Gov. Ron DeSantis, who signed the ban into law last year (it went into effect this year after legal challenges).
Trump spoke to DailyMail.com about a range of topics, from Kamala Harris and the 2024 campaign, to his family and life after nearly being shot by an assassin.
Trump fueled concerns among his anti-abortion allies with this post last week when he used the language of opponents when referring to women and their “reproductive rights.”
Trump further fueled concerns among his own allies with a post on Truth Social last week when he used the language of his political opponents.
“My administration will be great for women and their reproductive rights,” she posted.
Experts downplayed the matter, suggesting Trump was simply using his Truth Social platform to experiment with wording.
In the interview, she said her position meant protecting IVF after the Alabama Supreme Court ruled earlier this year that frozen embryos were babies.
“We are leaders in the field of in vitro fertilization, in the sense that we want women to be able to receive care from good doctors, good professionals,” she said.
And he said returning the abortion issue from the Supreme Court to the states would give voters more power to decide the issue for themselves.
“When it comes to abortion, for 52 years, people have wanted to take Roe v Wade out of the equation and put it back to the states,” she said. “And we’ve done it, I was able to do it.”
His own position, he said, was to ensure that there were exceptions.
Democrats are putting abortion referendums on the ballot in November in several states
Florida has one of the strictest laws in the country, banning abortion after six weeks. Gov. Ron DeSantis signed it into law last year and it went into effect in May 2024.
“I happen to be like Ronald Reagan and I’m in favor of exceptions for rape, incest and life of the mother, and I think that’s a very good thing,” he said.
But he did not go as far as his own running mate when it came to the issue of federal prohibition.
Sen. JD Vance said over the weekend that Trump would veto any federal bill that reached his desk in the Oval Office.
“Donald Trump’s view is that we want individual states and their individual cultures and their unique political sensibilities to make these decisions because we don’t want to have an ongoing federal conflict over this issue,” he said.
Trump did not commit to using the veto, instead saying it simply would not come to that.
“I don’t mind answering that question, but there’s no reason to because every state is voting,” he said.
‘We have a lot of states voting coming up, including Florida, and every state is voting on this.
‘But remember this, Democrats have a problem because they are willing to perform abortions… think about this… in the ninth month, and in some cases even after birth, they are willing to kill the baby.’
These late-term abortions are extremely rare and killing babies after birth is already illegal under homicide laws.
