Former President Donald Trump said in an interview with Fox News on Friday that he will be voting against Florida's abortion amendment, ending months of speculation about how he'll weigh in on a hot-button issue in November's election.


What You Need To Know

  • Former President Donald Trump said in an interview with Fox News on Friday that he will be voting against Florida's abortion amendment

  • Trump's comment comes one day after he criticized Florida's abortion ban as "too short," which angered anti-abortion figures

  • His statement ends months of speculation about how he'll weigh in on a hot-button issue in November's election

  • A spokesperson for Vice President Kamala Harris' campaign said on social media that Trump's comments amount to an endorsement of Florida's six-week ban

Trump's comments come one day after he said in a separate interview with NBC News that the state's six-week abortion ban is "too short," leading some to speculate that he may in fact support the state's amendment. His campaign quickly clarified that he was just weighing in on the Florida abortion law and was not giving his thoughts on the amendment itself.

Trump on Friday continued to say that he "disagreed" with the state's six-week ban, but added that "the Democrats are radical" before launching into his oft-used false refrain about post-birth abortions in Democrat-led states. (No state allows for a post-birth abortion, which would constitute as infanticide.)

He also called abortions in "the ninth month" a "ridiculous situation," though third-trimester abortions are very rare and are only legal in a handful of states.

"All of that stuff is unacceptable, so I'll be voting no for that reason," Trump told Fox News.

Florida's proposed abortion amendment does not allow for late-term abortions; it would bar restrictions on abortion "before viability or when necessary to protect the patient’s health, as determined by the patient’s healthcare provider." Fetal viability, a term used to describe when a fetus can survive outside of the womb, is typically around 23 or 24 weeks.

A spokesperson for Vice President Kamala Harris' campaign said on social media that Trump's comments amount to an endorsement of Florida's six-week ban. His statement comes as the Harris campaign is looking to tie him to overturning Roe v. Wade and the parts of the far-right policy platform Project 2025 that relate to abortion rights. (Trump has disavowed Project 2025 and sought to distance himself from it, though members of his administration were part of its creation.)

“I trust women to make their own health care decisions and believe the government should never come between a woman and her doctor," Harris said in a statement released by her campaign. "When I’m President and Congress passes a bill to restore reproductive freedom, I will proudly sign it into law.”

Trump faced backlash from anti-abortion figures on the right for his comments Thursday criticizing Florida's six-week restriction.

When asked by NBC News on Thursday how he would vote on the amendment, Trump said that "I am going to be voting that we need more than six weeks."

"I think the six week is too short, there has to be more time," Trump said Thursday, before his campaign clarified that he had "not yet said how he will vote on the ballot initiative in Florida."

Trump also pledged Thursday that he wanted to make in vitro fertilization paid for by the government or private insurance, though he did not detail how the plan would work or would be paid for. Harris' campaign accused Trump of "gaslighting" voters with that promise.