New York Times correspondent and CNN analyst Maggie Haberman recently revealed that in private, former President Donald Trump supports a national ban on abortion, with a particular number of weeks as a cutoff for a surprising reason.
Trump appointed three of the nine Supreme Court justices—Justices Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh, and Amy Coney Barrett—more than any other president, and enough to sway the 6-3 decision that overturned Roe v. Wade.
While Trump is proud of this achievement, President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris have not hesitated to criticize him on the issue.
Despite this, Trump has been evasive about endorsing a national ban, citing its political divisiveness and criticizing Florida Governor Ron DeSantis’s six-week ban.
Haberman, who has deep sources in Trump’s world from her decades of covering him since his New York days, reported that Trump prefers a national abortion ban at 16 weeks. In a recent article by Haberman and Jonathan Swan, Trump’s sources explained the reason for this specific cutoff.
Trump has told advisers and allies that he supports a 16-week national abortion ban, with exceptions for cases of rape or incest, or to save the life of the mother.
He has refrained from taking a clear stance on abortion restrictions since Roe v. Wade was overturned in mid-2022, as he wants to wait until after the Republican presidential primary to avoid alienating social conservatives before securing the nomination.
Trump has consistently treated abortion as a transactional issue since his candidacy in 2015, and his current private discussions reflect this approach. He likes the idea of a 16-week ban because it’s a round number, as he mentioned in a private conversation.
Haberman notes that the abortion issue is widely viewed as a key factor in several Republican defeats, a fact that Trump is keenly aware of.
