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.
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Donald Trump (Credits: AP News)
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.
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