Trump Backtracks, Says He's Voting No On Florida Abortion Amendment
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