In her new memoir, Melania Trump says she backs abortion rights but leaves some gray area as to whether she supports restrictions.
In the book, “Melania,” the former first lady writes that a woman should “have the power to determine what she does with her own body” and expresses support for the slogan, “My body, My choice.”
“A woman’s fundamental right of individual liberty, to her own life, grants her the authority to terminate her pregnancy if she wishes,” she wrote. “Restricting a woman’s right to choose whether to terminate an unwanted pregnancy is the same as denying her control over her own body.”
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In the next paragraph, however, she outlines “legitimate” reasons for a woman to get an abortion.
"There are several legitimate reasons for a woman to choose to have an abortion. For instance, if her life is at risk, rape, a congenital birth defect, plus severe medical conditions," Melania Trump wrote.
“Indeed, most people agree that abortion should be permissible in cases where a woman’s life is at risk due to the pregnancy, as well as those situations where the pregnancy is a result of rape or incest,” she added. “Timing matters.”
The memoir, though, does not outline if the reverse is true: If there are "legitimate" reasons for a woman to get an abortion, are there times it is illegitimate?
Republicans seeking a middle ground have long sought to emphasize their support for abortion in extreme circumstances, including rape, incest and the health of the mother. But many supporters of abortion rights say it shouldn't matter why women want to terminate a pregnancy because the choice is theirs.
The presidential campaign of her husband, former President Donald Trump, directed questions to Melania Trump aide Madison Porter, who did not return a request seeking comment.
Trump’s campaign did not respond to follow-up questions about whether he had any reaction to his wife making known a view that is mostly at odds with the Republican Party’s long-held anti-abortion position just weeks before the presidential election.
In interviews about her book, Melania Trump said that her husband was aware of her position early in their relationship.
“[Donald Trump] knew my position and my beliefs since the day we met,” she said during a Fox News interview over the weekend. “And I believe in individual freedom. I want to decide what I want to do with my body.”
“I don’t want government in my personal business,” she added.
The issue for abortion has been tricky for Donald Trump throughout the 2024 presidential election.
When asked about the issue, he generally points to the fact that the U.S. Supreme Court, shaped by his appointees, overturned Roe v. Wade, a decadeslong goal of anti-abortion supporters. That reversal largely returned the abortion issue to the states, which Trump says he supports.
But he has still run afoul of social conservatives irked by the fact that, under his direction, the Republican National Committee removed language from its platform that advocated for a federal abortion ban, something Trump said he would not sign as president.
Trump also stepped on a political landmine in August when he waffled on whether he supports a proposed ballot measure in his home state of Florida that would add abortion rights to that state’s constitution.
He initially told NBC News that the state’s current six-week ban is “too short” but would not commit to whether he was voting for the Florida ballot measure. If the initiative passes, Florida's six-week ban would functionally be overturned.
One day later, and after pushback from social conservatives, Trump clarified he would not be voting for the Florida ballot measure, using the commonly used — but false — rationale that it would allow an abortion up to the moment of birth.
“I think six weeks, you need more time than six weeks. I have disagreed with that right from the early primaries when I heard about it, I disagree with it,” Trump told Fox News at the time. “At the same time, the Democrats are radical, because the nine months is just a ridiculous situation where you can do an abortion in the night month.”
“I’ll be voting no for that reason,” he added.
