MIAMI — Former President Donald Trump wouldn’t say Thursday how he’ll vote on a proposed Florida state constitutional amendment that would overturn the state’s six-week abortion ban, adding that he predicted the vote on it would wind up in a more “liberal way” than might be anticipated.
Trump made the comments during a press conference at his Mar-a-Lago club in Palm Beach. A POLITICO reporter asked how he — as a Florida resident — would vote and he demurred, adding that he thinks abortion has “become much less of an issue.”
When pressed later in the press conference about the proposed amendment, which Floridians will vote on in November, he promised to hold a press conference on the matter “sometime in the near future.”
“So I don’t want to tell you now,” he continued. “But Florida does have a vote coming up on that and I think probably the vote will go in a little more liberal way than people thought. But I’ll be announcing that at the appropriate time.”
The abortion amendment, known as Amendment 4, would undo the current six-week restriction on abortion signed into law by Gov. Ron DeSantis, a former rival to Trump in the Republican presidential primary, as well as other restrictions such as waiting periods. It would allow access to the procedure up to viability, with exceptions later in a pregnancy for health reasons.
Trump is wading into an issue that became a back-and-forth between himself and the Florida governor. DeSantis attacked Trump during the primary as not being “pro-life” while Trump called it a “terrible mistake” for DeSantis to have signed the six-week restriction into law.
DeSantis himself isn’t on the ballot in November, but he’s raising money to fund committees that urge voters to oppose the abortion amendment and has addressed questions about it during press conferences. He has argued that amendment language gives too much leeway to health care providers to determine when an abortion is necessary for health reasons and to decide what constitutes “viability.” Many doctors generally understand viability to mean 24 weeks into a pregnancy, but that can vary with health conditions and other factors.
The Republican Party of Florida also passed a resolution to oppose the abortion amendment.
Trump similarly demurred on Thursday when asked about another contentious amendment in the state that would legalize recreational marijuana for adults at least 21 years old, promising to make a statement “fairly soon.” DeSantis opposes this amendment as well.
Democrats running for office in Florida have been leaning on the abortion amendment hoping that it will result in greater turnout for them and energize voters to their cause, given that congressional Democrats credit the issue with helping them hang onto more seats than they anticipated in 2022. They’ve also warned that Trump will ban abortion nationwide.
Trump supported a 20-week limit on abortion when he was president but has said during his 2024 campaign that he wants the states to decide the issue, after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade. He also reiterated on Thursday that he supported abortion exceptions for rape, incest and when a pregnancy has life-threatening complications.
Trump’s appointees to the high court were crucial in overturning the protections on abortion rights.
At Trump’s behest the Republican National Committee changed its position on abortion to be more in line with his.
“Now the states are voting on it,” Trump said. “The vote of the people is taking care of it.”
Natalie Allison contributed to this report from Palm Beach, Florida.
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