NEW YORK (AP) — Former President Donald Trump on Friday said he will vote no on a Florida ballot measure that would repeal the state’s six-week abortion ban.
Trump has said he thinks Florida’s ban is a mistake and said in an interview with Fox News Channel on Friday, “I think six weeks, you need more time.” But then he said, “at the same time, the Democrats are radical,” and he repeated false claims he has frequently made about late-term abortions and said that he opposed allowing abortions up until nine months.
“So I’ll be voting no for that reason,” said Trump, who is registered to vote at his Mar-a-Lago residence in Florida.
The Florida ballot measure would legalize abortion until pre-born viability, a term used by health care providers to describe whether a pregnancy is expected to continue developing normally or whether a fetus might survive outside the uterus. It’s generally considered to be around 23 or 24 weeks, which is about six months.
Trump drew backlash from abortion opponents who support him with a confusing signal in another interview on Thursday that he would vote in favor of the ballot measure and repeal the six week ban when he said, “I am going to be voting that we need more than six weeks.”
Amid the blowback his campaign quickly issued a statement saying that Trump had not actually said how he would vote but “simply reiterated that he believes six weeks is too short.”