Donald Trump knew Melania Trump supported abortion rights “since the day [they] met”, the former US first lady said on Sunday.
“And I believe in individual freedom. I want to decide what I want to do with my body. I think I don’t want government in my personal business,” Melania Trump added in an interview with Fox News, during which she elaborated on a political position that left her at odds with the Republican party led by her husband.
The Guardian was first to report on Wednesday how Melania Trump’s eagerly anticipated memoir contained a passionate defense of women’s right to control their own bodies – including with respect to abortion access.
The book, Melania, is scheduled for release on Tuesday, less than a month before Donald Trump seeks a second presidency in the 5 November election. She reacted to Wednesday’s reporting in the Guardian with a social media statement on Thursday that declared: “Individual freedom is a fundamental principle that I safeguard.”
Melania Trump defended the decision to reveal her abortion-related views so close to her husband’s electoral showdown with Kamala Harris, the vice-president and Democratic nominee.
Public polling has long held that most Americans favor access to abortion, and Democrats have translated that support into political victories during Joe Biden’s presidency. But many Republican-led state legislatures have sought to restrict access to abortion, mainly citing conservative religious beliefs, since the US supreme court eliminated federal-level abortion rights in June 2022.
“Well, that was not written in the last week or the last month,” Melania Trump said. “That book was written months before, and it was in print months before.
“So that was my belief, and it is my belief, and I wanted to put it in the book because I want to be authentic.”
Harris on Sunday appeared on the popular Call Her Daddy podcast and reminded listeners that three US supreme court justice appointed by Trump formed part of the conservative bloc that eliminated the federal abortion rights previously established by the landmark Roe v Wade decision.
Trump has previously spoken proudly of those judicial appointees and their decision as it pertained to Roe. Furthermore, the conservative thinktank the Heritage Foundation, which supports Trump, has openly called for the Food and Drug Administration to completely revoke its approval of the abortion medication mifepristone – and the group’s Project 2025 plan has also pushed for the criminal prosecution of people who send abortion pills or tools through the mail.
Melania Trump nonetheless insisted that the former US president “lets me be who I am”.
“He lets me believe what I believe,” the former first lady remarked. “He lets me be my own person. And he does respect that, and I respect that as I let him be his own person.
“He has different beliefs, and he will do what he believes.”
