(LifeSiteNews) — Donald Trump said that Florida’s six-week abortion limit is “too short” and initially appeared to suggest that he might vote for a pro-abortion amendment in Florida before later confirming that he will vote against it, condemning the amendment for allowing late-term abortion.
In an interview with NBC on Thursday, Trump was asked how he would vote on Florida’s “Amendment 4,” which would overturn the state’s six-week abortion ban and allow unrestricted abortion up to “viability,” which is usually set at around 24 weeks’ gestation, and abortion up to birth for so-called “health” reasons.
READ: Florida’s pro-abortion amendment would mean ‘no limits, no doctors, no parents, no laws’
“I think the six-week is too short, there has to be more time,” Trump said. When explicitly asked if he would vote in favor of the pro-abortion amendment, he said he is “going to be voting that we need more than six weeks.”
However, in an interview with Fox News on Friday, Trump stated that he will vote no on Amendment 4, which he criticized for allowing the “ridiculous situation” of abortion in the ninth month of pregnancy. He further blasted the Democratic Party as “radical” for opposing virtually all restrictions on abortion.
#BREAKING: Former President Trump is “no” on Florida’s abortion Amendment 4, saying the amendment is too extreme
“I’ll be voting no.” pic.twitter.com/YoGuIVMR1o
— Florida’s Voice (@FLVoiceNews) August 30, 2024
Amendment 4, also called the “Right to Abortion Initiative,” seeks to amend the Florida Constitution’s Declaration of Rights to say “no law shall prohibit, penalize, delay, or restrict abortion before viability or when necessary to protect the patient’s health, as determined by the patient’s healthcare provider.”
Direct abortion is always gravely immoral and never needed nor ethically justified to save a mother’s life.
READ: Think unborn babies are just ‘clumps of cells’? These videos will make you think again
Time magazine had reported on Thursday that Trump campaign spokesperson Karoline Leavitt said in a statement, “President Trump has not yet said how he will vote on the ballot initiative in Florida, he simply reiterated that he believes six weeks is too short.”
Trump and his campaign have increasingly distanced themselves from pro-life positions in the past months and have been heavily criticized for it by pro-life leaders, though Trump’s opposition to Florida’s Amendment 4 is a notable exception.
The former president made his comments on Thursday ahead of a rally in Michigan, where he announced his intention to force insurance companies or the federal government to cover the costs of in-vitro fertilization (IVF).