Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) on Sunday predicted former President Trump will not have the opportunity to sign a national abortion ban even if he is reelected and wanted to, arguing the issue will never receive enough support in Congress.
When asked on NBC News’s “Meet the Press” if he disagrees with Trump’s remark that he is “not signing a national abortion ban,” Rubio said, “Well, he won’t sign one because there’s no way we can pass it.”
“I’ve never claimed we have 60 votes in the Senate and votes in the House and everything else that goes in between,” he added.
Trump last month said he would not sign a national abortion ban if reelected and such a bill passed Congress and emphasized abortion policy should be determined by individual states.
“Now the states have it, and the states are putting out what they want. It’s the will of the people,” Trump said while speaking to reporters in April.
Rubio suggested Trump has signaled he “wants to negotiate” with Democrats on the issue.
“And I think what Trump has actually said is that what he wants to do is negotiate, I think he said it on this program, that he wants to negotiate with the Democrats on this, which I think, you know, in a country where you’re trying to save unborn human life, and I support laws that do so even if they don’t want everything I want them to have in there,” Rubio said.
“That’s his goal. But that’s a statement of fact: He will never get a chance to sign that law because right now we don’t have the votes to pass. That doesn’t mean that’s not what I believe, it’s just kind of the reality of the politics,” he added.
“Meet the Press” anchor Kristen Welker later pressed Rubio, whose name has been floated as a possible vice-presidential pick for Trump, on the former president’s recent remark calling the six-week abortion ban in Florida a “terrible thing, a terrible mistake.”
Rubio appeared to sidestep Welker’s question over whether Trump was “wrong on that point.”
“Well, again, I am pro-life, so I support laws that save unborn human life. Other people have different opinions on what our law should be,” Rubio said. “That law that you’re referring to was passed by elected legislators in the state of Florida, House members that have to go back to their voters every two years, senators that have go to back every four years.”
“I get that this is two competing rights here that [are] crashing into each other,” he continued. “But I err on the side of supporting unborn human life because of the dignity of all human life. That’s my view. I want our laws to represent it. Other people have different views.”
Welker then pressed again, asking Rubio if he is “disagreeing” with Trump’s opposition to Florida’s six-week ban and if he supports it instead.
“But I think, even within the pro-ife movement, there’s all kinds of disagreement about what the law should be. Some of it is practical,” Rubio answered, prompting Welker to ask again if he supports the ban.
“I support any bill that protects unborn human life, but I don’t consider other people in the pro-life movement who have a different view to be apostate,” Rubio responded.
The Biden campaign last month quickly dismissed Trump’s remarks about not signing an abortion ban, pointing to his track record on the issue to argue the former president would threaten access to the procedure if he is reelected.
“Donald Trump is a lying liar,” Biden campaign spokesperson Ammar Moussa wrote on the social platform X. “He endorsed a national abortion ban when he was president in 2018. His allies are talking about how they can ban abortion with or without Congress. Give me a break.”
As president, Trump’s White House supported a House bill that banned most abortions after 20 weeks of pregnancy and pushed the Senate to pass the legislation and send it to his desk. The measure did not make it through the Senate, however.
While a federal abortion ban is likely to face many challenges in Congress, abortion advocates have warned a second Trump term, regardless of congressional action, could threaten access to abortion medication.