Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump’s comments to a reporter involving abortion and public comments he made about in vitro fertilization (IVF) are causing controversy among some in his own party. And groups that support reproductive rights are warning voters not to believe the Republican candidate for his newfound stances on those issues.
On Thursday, Trump, who has been struggling with women voters in recent polls, told NBC News reporter Dasha Burns that he thought Florida’s six-week abortion ban is "too short" and he favored "more time." And he hinted he might vote for a statewide constitutional amendment similar to the one passed by Ohio voters last fall.
Hours later, his campaign press secretary Karolina Leavitt, told NPR, "President Trump has not yet said how he will vote on the ballot initiative in Florida, he simply reiterated that he believes six weeks is too short."
Then on Friday, he told a Fox News reporter that he would vote "no" on Florida's amendment, saying it is "too extreme."
Anti-abortion leaders in Ohio are not speaking out about Trump's comments right now. Ohio Right to Life President Mike Gonidakis declined to do an interview, saying he was spending a day with his family. And a spokesman for Citizens for Christian Virtue's Aaron Baer said he did not have time in his schedule to do an interview.
But Abortion Forward Executive Director Kellie Copeland has a message for Trump.
“You did this. You knew you were going to do this and now that people are suffering and you think might have to pay a political price, you want to have it both ways," Copeland said.
Copeland said Trump is the reason for the ban in Florida and some other states.
“Let’s be clear. The reason abortion is banned in Florida right now is because of Donald Trump and the justices he stacked the U.S. Supreme Court with,” Copeland said. “So when he thinks the laws in place in Florida go too far, well, look in the mirror, pal.”
Trump has taken credit publicly for the fall of Roe v. Wade for appointing conservative justices to the U.S. Supreme Court who ultimately overturned it in 2022.
Trump also said if he’s elected again, his administration would allow government funding or require private insurance companies to cover costs for expensive IVF procedures. IVF has also been in question since an Alabama Supreme Court decision earlier this year temporarily cut off access to the procedure until state lawmakers intervened.
In June, the U.S. Senate took votes on bills that would have guaranteed rights to IVF and birth control. Both failed because of a lack of enough Republican support. Copeland noted that.
“His party including his running mate, J.D. Vance, just voted to kill the IVF bill. And again, as we said before, Trump is responsible for overturning Roe which sets the stage for the Alabama ruling that banned IVF in their state,” Copeland said. “Plus Project 2025 says it will effectively ban IVF and we have seen this coming in Ohio and that’s why we included protections for IVF in the Ohio Reproductive Freedoms Amendment.”
That amendment passed as Issue 1 last fall with 57% of the vote.
Trump has recently been trying to distance himself from the conservative Project 2025, a public policy blueprint of the conservative Heritage Foundation. But Democrats are quick to point out 140 of Trump's former staffers are involved with it. Democrats also note Vance wrote the forward for a new book by Heritage Foundation President Kevin Roberts.
