By Valerie Richardson - The Washington Times - Friday, August 30, 2024

Former President Donald Trump came out against Florida’s Amendment 4, promising to vote against the sweeping pro-choice measure a day after alarming pro-life advocates by wavering on the issue.

The Republican said after Friday’s presidential campaign rally in Johnstown, Pennsylvania, that he still disagrees with Florida’s heartbeat law, which bars most abortions after six weeks’ gestation, but that Amendment 4 goes too far.

“I think six weeks, you need more time than six weeks, I disagreed with that right from the early primaries,” Mr. Trump told Fox News correspondent Brian Llenas.

“At the same time, the Democrats are radical, because the nine months is just a ridiculous situation,” he said. “You can do an abortion in the ninth month, and some of the states like Minnesota and other states have it where you can actually execute the baby after birth. And all of that stuff is unacceptable. So I’ll be voting ‘no’ for that reason.”

Pro-life leaders were stunned when Mr. Trump, regarded during his one term as the most pro-life president in modern history, indicated Thursday that he had not ruled out supporting Amendment 4, which would eliminate nearly all restrictions on abortion access.

His campaign quickly backtracked, saying that the Florida resident had not yet decided whether to support the amendment.

Marjorie Dannenfelser, president of Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America, cheered Mr. Trump’s opposition to Amendment 4.

“President Trump is absolutely right, Amendment 4 is a radical measure that would force taxpayers to fund abortion, eliminate parental rights, take women’s health protections off the books and allow abortion throughout all of pregnancy – even in the seventh, eighth and ninth months,” Ms. Dannenfelser said in a Friday statement.

Mr. Trump also reiterated that he wants to see insurance companies or the federal government cover the cost of IVF, or in vitro fertilization, a procedure used by couples struggling with infertility that costs about $20,000 per cycle, according to the Department of Health and Human Services.

Pro-life advocates have called for guardrails on the procedure, which often involves the destruction of unused embryos created during the process.

If elected, Mr. Trump said that “government’s going to pay for IVF when people need the treatment, when they want the treatment, when they want to go in with the fertilization, government’s going to get totally involved and they’re going to help people.”

“We want to have babies, we want to have lots of beautiful babies in this country, and we’re going to do it,” Mr. Trump said.

His effort to reach beyond his conservative base on reproduction-related issues was greeted with skepticism by Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic presidential nominee.

“Donald Trump made his position clear when he hand-picked three Supreme Court justices to overturn Roe — which has decimated reproductive freedom and jeopardized IVF access for American women,” she wrote on X. “I have never wavered on this, so believe me when I say: I will always protect reproductive freedom.”

Amendment 4 would ban restrictions on abortion access until viability, or about 22-23 weeks gestation, and then permit post-viability abortions “to protect the patient’s health,” which includes mental health.

The amendment would not change the state’s constitutional provision requiring parental notification before minors may undergo abortions.

As a proposed constitutional amendment, Amendment 4 requires 60% of the vote in the Nov. 5 election to gain passage.

• Valerie Richardson can be reached at vrichardson@washingtontimes.com.

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