2024-10-07 23:52:47
Protest after the tightening of abortion laws in the United States. | Photo: Reuters
The right to an abortion
The most surprising opinion presented by Melania Trump in the book released on Tuesday concerns abortion. “A woman’s basic right to personal freedom, to her own life, gives her the right to terminate a pregnancy if she wishes,” reads the book, which was obtained by the New York Times before its publication. “Limiting a woman’s right to decide whether to terminate an unwanted pregnancy is the same as denying her control over her own body,” he adds, adding that he has carried this belief throughout his adult life.
Trump supports the right to abortion even at a later stage of pregnancy. “It is important to remember that in the past, most abortions performed in the later stages of pregnancy were the result of severe fetal abnormalities that would likely have resulted in the death or stillbirth of the baby or even the death of the mother,” publishes another excerpt from the book, the British newspaper The Guardian.
In this, Melania breaks with her husband Donald Trump, whose previous presidency is associated with the deterioration of women’s reproductive rights, among other things. Three Supreme Court justices appointed by Trump voted to overturn the 1973 federal protection of abortion rights, known as Roe v. Wade. Protection of abortion rights is also a rallying issue for Democrats, supported by Kamala Harris, Trump’s opponent in the November race for the White House.
Trump has been toning down and changing his anti-abortion rhetoric recently. Now they mostly say that they would leave the decision in the hands of the individual states. Last week, he said he would veto a potential federal abortion ban if he were to become president again.
The media and human rights experts are skeptical of Trump’s position and, given the tone of the rest of the book, believe that this is just part of Trump’s campaign. “It’s no coincidence that her alleged support is being leaked to the public just before the election. This woman participated in her husband’s nightmare and his bigotry, and now she wants to help make his anti-abortion extremism shiny and soft. It’s a cover-up and a distraction from how dangerous a Trump administration would be for women,” Vanity Fair magazine quotes abortion expert Jessica Valenti as saying.