After deflecting reporters’ questions earlier this month, former U.S. President Donald Trump, the Republican nominee, finally confirmed on Friday that he plans to vote against a Florida ballot measure that would end the state’s strict abortion ban.
Amendment 4 would would outlaw pre-viability abortion bans in Florida, where Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis‘ six-week ban is currently in effect, forcing many patients to travel long distances to receive care in other states.
The Trump War Room account on the social media platform X, formerly Twitter, shared a video of Trump’s new comments to Fox News and falsely claimed the proposed amendment would legalize abortions through the ninth month of pregnancy, echoing the GOP candidate’s lies in the interview.
“You need more time than six weeks. I’ve disagreed with that right from the early primaries. When I heard about it, I disagreed with it,” Trump told Fox News. “At the same time, the Democrats are radical because the nine months is just a ridiculous situation.”
“You can do an abortion in the ninth month, and you know, some of the states, like Minnesota and other states, have it where you can actually execute the baby after birth, and all of that stuff is unacceptable,” he added. “So I’ll be voting no for that reason.”
In response, Democratic strategist and consultant Sawyer Hackett said: “There it is. Trump supports states passing total abortion bans. No question he will sign a national abortion ban if it’s put on his desk.”
Laws like Florida’s are effectively total bans on abortion because the window in which patients can receive care often passes before they even know they are pregnant. GOP efforts to enact such state policies have ramped up since the U.S. Supreme Court’s right-wing supermajority — which includes three Trump appointees — reversed Roe v. Wade in 2022.
Trump’s confirmation of how he plans to vote on Amendment 4 and dishonesty about abortion laws in Democrat-controlled states came a day after he told an NBC News reporter that “it has to be more time” than six weeks but refused to answer whether he would be voting “yes” or “no” on his state’s ballot measure — and then bragged about his role in reversing Roe.
“Really cannot trust anything Trump says, but gotta love it when anti-abortion politicians (including Trump who created the pathway for Roe to be overturned!!) is now all squirmy when it comes to Florida’s near-total abortion ban,” Florida state Rep. Anna V. Eskamani (D-42) said about his remarks to NBC, urging Floridians to vote yes on Amendment 4.
Amendment 4 has been championed by Floridians Protecting Freedom, a coalition that includes the ACLU of Florida, Florida Rising, Women’s Voices of Southwest Florida, Florida Women’s Freedom Coalition, SEIU 1199 Florida, and Planned Parenthood organizations in the state.
Trump was previously asked about the ballot measure during an August 8 press conference from Mar-a-Lago, his residence in Palm Beach. At the time, he told reporters he would hold an event to reveal his position at a later date and claimed that abortion “seems to be much less of an issue.”
The Democratic nominee, Vice President Kamala Harris, and her running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, have worked to make reproductive freedom a key issue in this contest, and their campaign swiftly responded to Trump’s Friday remarks.
“Donald Trump just made his position on abortion very clear: He will vote to uphold an abortion ban so extreme it applies before many women even know they are pregnant,” Harris said. “Trump proudly brags about the role that he played in overturning Roe v. Wade and said there should be punishment for women who have an abortion. So, of course he thinks it’s a ‘beautiful thing’ that women in Florida and across the country are being turned away from emergency rooms, face life-threatening situations, and are forced to travel hundreds of miles for the care they need.”
“And, understand: He is not done,” she warned. “As a part of Donald Trump’s Project 2025 agenda, he and his allies would limit access to birth control, threaten access to fertility treatments, and ban abortion nationwide, with or without Congress.”
Harris stressed that “I trust women to make their own healthcare decisions and believe the government should never come between a woman and her doctor. When I’m president and Congress passes a bill to restore reproductive freedom, I will proudly sign it into law. The choice in this election is clear.”
Truthout Is Preparing to Meet Trump’s Agenda With Resistance at Every Turn
Dear Truthout Community,
If you feel rage, despondency, confusion and deep fear today, you are not alone. We’re feeling it too. We are heartsick. Facing down Trump’s fascist agenda, we are desperately worried about the most vulnerable people among us, including our loved ones and everyone in the Truthout community, and our minds are racing a million miles a minute to try to map out all that needs to be done.
We must give ourselves space to grieve and feel our fear, feel our rage, and keep in the forefront of our mind the stark truth that millions of real human lives are on the line. And simultaneously, we’ve got to get to work, take stock of our resources, and prepare to throw ourselves full force into the movement.
Journalism is a linchpin of that movement. Even as we are reeling, we’re summoning up all the energy we can to face down what’s coming, because we know that one of the sharpest weapons against fascism is publishing the truth.
There are many terrifying planks to the Trump agenda, and we plan to devote ourselves to reporting thoroughly on each one and, crucially, covering the movements resisting them. We also recognize that Trump is a dire threat to journalism itself, and that we must take this seriously from the outset.
Last week, the four of us sat down to have some hard but necessary conversations about Truthout under a Trump presidency. How would we defend our publication from an avalanche of far right lawsuits that seek to bankrupt us? How would we keep our reporters safe if they need to cover outbreaks of political violence, or if they are targeted by authorities? How will we urgently produce the practical analysis, tools and movement coverage that you need right now — breaking through our normal routines to meet a terrifying moment in ways that best serve you?
It will be a tough, scary four years to produce social justice-driven journalism. We need to deliver news, strategy, liberatory ideas, tools and movement-sparking solutions with a force that we never have had to before. And at the same time, we desperately need to protect our ability to do so.
We know this is such a painful moment and donations may understandably be the last thing on your mind. But we must ask for your support, which is needed in a new and urgent way.
We promise we will kick into an even higher gear to give you truthful news that cuts against the disinformation and vitriol and hate and violence. We promise to publish analyses that will serve the needs of the movements we all rely on to survive the next four years, and even build for the future. We promise to be responsive, to recognize you as members of our community with a vital stake and voice in this work.
Please dig deep if you can, but a donation of any amount will be a truly meaningful and tangible action in this cataclysmic historical moment. We are presently looking for 182 new monthly donors in the next 24 hours.
We’re with you. Let’s do all we can to move forward together.
With love, rage, and solidarity,
Maya, Negin, Saima, and Ziggy