Former President Donald Trump doubled down on his bizarre all-caps message to female voters this past weekend, which he posted to his Truth Social page late Friday night: “YOU WILL NOT THINK ABORTION ANYMORE.”
He repeated the message almost word for word at a rally Saturday afternoon in Wilmington, North Carolina, arguing that women should no longer have to worry about their reproductive rights after a second Trump term, even as recent polls show Trump’s support among women is declining.
“Let’s talk about our great women, because women have been through a lot,” Trump said, after speaking for about an hour.
He cited no evidence, but claimed that women are now “more stressed and depressed”, less healthy, poorer and less safe than they were four years ago.
“I’m going to fix all of that, women, I’m going to fix all of that. And finally this national nightmare that we’re going through will be over. Women will be happy,” Trump said on stage.
He added, as he did on Truth Social, that if he wins, “you will no longer think about abortion.”
But then his message became confusing.
Trump has pointed to his role in eliminating abortion rights nationwide in favor of allowing each state to pass its own laws, as happened when the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022. However, the lack of nationwide protections has led some states to pursue extreme bans with very narrow exceptions, leaving individual patients with few or no options.
Trump indicated he supports “STRENGTH EXCEPTIONS” for rape and incest, even though he has no influence over state abortion laws and has refused to clarify his position on implementing a nationwide abortion policy of any kind.
The Supreme Court’s overturning of Roe v. Wade has proven extremely unpopular, although Wade has repeatedly (falsely) argued that the move was popular.
According to a New York Times/Siena College poll released last month, a growing share of voters in swing states say abortion access is their top policy concern. That puts Trump, who has bragged about appointing conservative Supreme Court justices who tipped the scales in favor of repealing Roe, in a difficult position.
Trump also repeated another lie during his rally about Democratic lawmakers wanting to “execute” newborns or “demanding” abortions in late pregnancy.
The suggestions are completely unfounded in fact. Late-term abortion is extremely rare; it is sometimes chosen in circumstances where a fetus develops a condition that is incompatible with life. It is not legal anywhere in the US to intentionally kill a baby.
