Former President Trump suggested Tuesday that he was open to allowing states to restrict access to birth control and suggested his campaign would soon release a “very comprehensive policy.”
When asked during an interview with Pittsburgh’s KDKA whether he supported restricting a person’s right to birth control, Trump did not rule out that possibility.
“We are looking at this and I will have a policy on this very soon, and I think it is something you will find interesting,” he said.
When pressed on whether this meant he was open to states banning specific types of birth control, such as Plan B, “the morning after pill,” Trump indicated he supported leaving the decision up to the states.
“Things really have a lot to do with the states, and some states will have different policies than others,” the presumptive GOP presidential nominee said, adding that more details will come “within a week or so.”
Trump has a history of asking uncomfortable questions, saying a plan will be released in “two weeks.”
In an interview Telling Time magazine last month, Trump said a “major statement” about shipping abortion pills and enforcing the Comstock Act would come “in the next 14 days.”
When the reporter made a phone call two weeks later, Trump again said a statement would come “in the next week or two.”
Trump has long avoided commenting directly on controversial political issues, such as abortion and contraception, which have confused Republicans since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade.
Still, Trump regularly takes credit for the decision, and he did so again on Tuesday.
“We did something that everyone wanted. We got rid of Roe v. Wade,” Trump said.
But the former president avoided saying how much he would limit these rights if he returned to the White House next year. He dodged a question Tuesday about whether he would veto a national abortion ban, saying, “I don’t think there’s any reason for that.”
In a Tuesday post on his Truth Social platform, Trump emphasized that “I WILL NEVER ADVOCATE IMPOSING RESTRICTIONS ON BIRTH CONTROL.”
Trump has taken the position that abortion policy should be left to the states. But it also provoked attacks, including from some on the right who expressed disappointment that the former president was not adopting a federal minimum standard for abortion.
President Biden and his campaign team have been sounding the alarm about what a second Trump term will mean for women and reproductive rights, and a Biden-Harris campaign spokesperson said Trump’s comments show that Republicans are clearly aimed at birth control.
“Women across the country are already suffering from Donald Trump’s post-Roe nightmare, and if he wins a second term, it’s clear he wants to go even further by restricting access to birth control and emergency contraception.” , said Sarafina Chitika, a spokeswoman for Biden-Harris. in a statement.
“It is not enough for Trump that women’s lives are being put at risk, doctors are being threatened with prison sentences and extreme bans are being enacted, with no exceptions for rape or incest. He also wants to destroy our freedom to access birth control,” said Chitika.
— Updated at 2:16 p.m. ET
This story originally appeared on thehill.com read the full story
