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Donald Trump said he would vote against an amendment to Florida’s state constitution guaranteeing abortion rights, raising the stakes on an issue that is mobilising Democrats and threatening his White House bid.
The former Republican president had sent mixed signals and avoided taking a stance on the proposed amendment, which will appear on the state ballot in November’s election.
But on Friday, he told Fox News that he would be voting “no” on the measure, which would protect abortion rights until viability and negate a law signed by Republican governor Ron DeSantis in Trump’s home state that bans abortions after six weeks of gestation.
Trump said that while he disagreed with a six-week ban because “you need more time”, Democrats had “radical” policies on abortion. “It is just a ridiculous situation where you can do an abortion in the ninth month,” he said.
The former president has been caught between the need to maintain the support of staunchly conservative, religious voters who are opposed to abortion, and the political imperative of winning over moderate and independent voters who favour abortion rights.
Trump and other Republicans have been on the defensive over abortion ever since the conservative majority on the Supreme Court, including three justices he appointed during his presidency, overturned the right to an abortion nationally in 2022.
Democrats have relentlessly pounded Trump on abortion rights since then — and raised concerns that other reproductive practices, including in vitro fertilisation and contraception, could be at risk if he is re-elected.
Earlier this week, Trump had scrambled to say that he would ensure funding for IVF procedures, and on Thursday he had suggested that in Florida he would vote to make sure that abortion was not limited to the first six weeks of pregnancy.
But that comment triggered a backlash from the right, forcing him to clarify his position opposing the amendment on Friday. Now that he has pledged to vote “no” on the Florida ballot measure, Democrats will probably renew their attacks.
“Trump is responsible for Florida’s six week abortion ban, of course he won’t vote to dismantle it,” Rosemary Boeglin, communications director for the Democratic party, wrote on X. “And he’ll take this dangerous agenda nationwide if we don’t stop him”
Trump’s struggles to define his positions on reproductive rights come after his campaign attacked Kamala Harris, the US vice-president and his White House rival, for changing stances on a number of issues, including healthcare, energy and immigration, in order to appeal to centrist voters.
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