Trump says states should decide their own abortion policies

Former President Donald Trump said states should decide abortion policy, avoiding taking a position on a national ban as he struggles to navigate a motivating issue for Democrats.

"My view is now that we have abortion where everybody wanted it from a legal standpoint," he said in a video posted on Truth Social, praising the overturning of Roe v. Wade in 2022 that allowed states to set their own standards for access to abortion.

"Many states will be different," he said. "Many will have a different number of weeks or some will have more conservative than others and that's what they will be. At the end of the day, it's all about the will of the people."

Trump resisted pressure from anti-abortion groups to set a firm limit, such as 15 weeks of pregnancy, for a national abortion ban. Yet that will almost certainly do little to blunt attacks from Democrats, who blame him for the Supreme Court decision ending nationwide abortion rights, while leaving his religious conservative allies dissatisfied.

Read more: Alabama has updated its IVF ruling. What can employers learn from it?

"Trump is scrambling," President Joe Biden, who will face the former president again in November, said in a statement. "He's worried that since he's the one responsible for overturning Roe the voters will hold him accountable in 2024."

Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America, a prominent conservative group, said it was "deeply disappointed" in Trump's announcement and that declining to back nationwide limits on abortion "cedes the national debate to the Democrats."

Trump and his campaign for months have tried to neutralize one of the Republican's biggest disadvantages — their stance on reproductive rights — heading into the general election. Democrats have successfully used the issue in elections since the Supreme Court's decision two years ago.

Trump did not call for exceptions to abortion bans, but said he supported them.

Read more: What Alabama's IVF ruling will mean for employees seeking fertility care

"Like Ronald Reagan, I am strongly in favor of exceptions for rape, incest and the life of the mother," he said. "You must follow your heart on this issue."

The former president also said he supported ensuring access to IVF technology "in every state in America."

By leaving abortion up to the states, Trump is sidestepping the division in his party between anti-abortion advocates, many of whom want abortion halted in the U.S. entirely, and moderate voters, who feel comfortable with abortion in certain circumstances.

Biden and his Democratic allies have used the Republican Party's divided position on abortion to galvanize its base, lambasting the former president in television ads and on the campaign trail on his previous statements on abortion.

Polls consistently how widespread support for reproductive rights and every ballot initiative protecting abortion access since the Supreme Court ruling has won, including in Republican-dominated states such as Kansas, Kentucky and Ohio.