Former President Trump said Sunday that he will decide “pretty soon” whether to back a national abortion ban.
Trump’s comments come after reports surfaced last month that he is considering embracing a 16-week federal abortion ban for his campaign platform.
“We’re going to find out,” Trump told Fox News host Howard Kurtz on whether he would back the policy. “Pretty soon, I’m gonna be making a decision. I would like to see if we could make both sides happy.”
The Trump campaign pushed back on reports of the policy last month but did not deny that Trump was considering it, instead offering a vague statement saying Trump would “sit down with both sides and negotiate a deal that everyone will be happy with.”
“President Trump appointed strong Constitutionalist federal judges and Supreme Court justices who overturned Roe v. Wade and sent the decision back to the states, which others have tried to do for over 50 years,” campaign spokesperson Karoline Leavitt said in a statement, which referred to the initial report as “fake news.”
Democrats have seized on the speculation, claiming that Trump will push for a national abortion ban if elected. The policy is divisive, with about 48 percent of Americans saying they would back a 16-week ban in a poll last month.
A similar policy divided GOP primary candidates, with Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.) among the candidates to back a 15-week federal ban, while Nikki Haley said the issue shouldn’t be federally regulated at all.
Scott is among the finalists to be Trump’s vice president.