AgenPress – Donald Trump has spoken out against a bill in his home state of Florida that would expand access to abortion and will vote against a referendum to codify abortion rights in the constitution by overturning the state’s current ban on terminating a pregnancy after six weeks.
His announcement came a day after he told NBC News that Florida’s six-week ban was “too short” and refused to take a clear position on a state ballot measure that would have expanded access to the procedure.
Today on Fox News Trump explained his position again: “I think we need more time than six weeks, but I also think the proposed amendment is too permissive, so I will vote no for that reason.” The tycoon risked alienating the vote of anti-abortion groups, but in doing so he risks losing the vote of a large part of the female electorate.
On Friday, Trump again said that women need “more time” than six weeks to decide whether to have an abortion, but that “Democrats are radical” and he could not support the amendment.
“So I think six weeks, it takes longer than six weeks. I have disagreed with that since the first primaries, when I heard about it, I disagreed,” Trump said in comments to Fox News. “At the same time, the Democrats are radical, because nine months is just a ridiculous situation where you can do an abortion in the ninth month. … So I’m going to vote no for that reason.”
The proposed amendment would prevent restrictions on abortion before fetal viability, around the 24th week of pregnancy, while providing exceptions to protect the health of the mother.
The backlash from anti-abortion advocates was fierce after Trump’s NBC News interview, with some warning that the Republican presidential nominee was at risk of losing the support of a key bloc of the party’s base.