Former first lady Melania Trump reveals in a forthcoming memoir that she supports a woman’s right to choose.
Trump, surprisingly, says that she “has carried this belief with me my entire adult life.”
The Guardian obtained a copy from his book Melaniato be released Tuesday and reported Wednesday that he has very different views on abortion than former President Donald Trump, the current Republican candidate.
“It is imperative to ensure that women have the autonomy to decide their preference to have children, based on their own convictions, free from any government intervention or pressure,” the former first lady wrote.
‘Why should anyone other than the woman herself have the power to determine what she does with her own body?’ she asked. ‘A woman’s fundamental right to individual freedom, to her own life, gives her the authority to terminate her pregnancy if she so wishes.’
Former first lady Melania Trump reveals in a forthcoming memoir that she supports a woman’s right to choose.
“Restricting a woman’s right to choose whether to terminate an unwanted pregnancy is the same as denying her control over her own body,” Trump said.
“I have carried this belief with me throughout my adult life,” he added.
The surprising admission comes after she says in the book that “occasional political disagreements between my husband and I” are “part of our relationship.”
“But I believed in addressing them privately rather than challenging him publicly,” he said.
Later in the book he explains why he supports abortion rights.
“I have always believed that it is essential that people take care of themselves first,” she said. ‘It’s a very simple concept; In fact, we are all born with a set of fundamental rights, including the right to enjoy life.’
“We all have the right to maintain a rewarding and dignified existence,” he continued. “This common sense approach applies to a woman’s natural right to make decisions about her own body and health.”
Trump is widely credited with laying the groundwork that allowed for the overturning of Roe v. Wade, the landmark 1973 Supreme Court decision that federally granted women the right to abortion.
The Republican candidate named three of the conservative justices who signed the 2022 Dobbs decision, killing Roe.
While this was applauded by the anti-abortion wing of the Republican Party, it was also the former president who realized that the GOP was now in political danger from that stance.
Since then, abortion rights ballot initiatives have been successful, and Republicans underperformed during the 2022 midterm elections, likely because abortion was such a hot-button issue.