Melania Trump doubled down in her first public response to news of her passionate support for abortion rights, a position starkly at odds with that of her husband, Donald Trump, and the Republican party he leads.
“Individual freedom is a fundamental principle that I safeguard,” the former first lady said in a video released on Thursday. “Without a doubt, there is no room for compromise when it comes to this essential right that all women possess from birth. Individual freedom. What does ‘My body, my choice’ really mean?”
Set to classical music and posted to social media, Trump’s words were a paraphrase of those in her forthcoming memoir, Melania, which the Guardian revealed on Wednesday.
On the page, Trump says: “It is imperative to guarantee that women have autonomy in deciding their preference of having children, based on their own convictions, free from any intervention or pressure from the government.
“Why should anyone other than the woman herself have the power to determine what she does with her own body? A woman’s fundamental right of individual liberty, to her own life, grants her the authority to terminate her pregnancy if she wishes.
“Restricting a woman’s right to choose whether to terminate an unwanted pregnancy is the same as denying her control over her own body. I have carried this belief with me throughout my entire adult life.”
News of that stance created a stir, a little over a month from election day in a campaign shaped by attacks on abortion rights by Donald Trump, the Republican party, and their donors and supporters.
In June 2022, in the supreme court case Dobbs v Jackson, three hardline justices appointed by Trump voted to remove the federal right to abortion, marking a successful end to a 50-year crusade by religious conservatives. Draconian state bans followed – as did reports of women dying after being denied abortion care.
Trump has claimed credit but also tried to lessen electoral damage, given clear majority support for abortion rights that has fueled a succession of Democratic electoral wins since the Dobbs decision.
A spokesperson for the Republican nominee did not respond to a request for comment. Trump himself spoke to Fox News, while staging a rally in Saginaw, Michigan.
“We spoke about it,” he said, when asked about his wife expressing support for abortion rights in opposition to his record and platform.
“And I said: ‘You have to write what you believe.’ I’m not going to tell her what she should do. You have to write what you believe. She’s very beloved. People love our former first lady, I can tell you that. But I said: ‘You have to stick with your heart.’ I’ve said that to everybody, you have to go with your heart.”
Sarafina Chitika, a spokesperson for Kamala Harris, the Democratic nominee, said: “Sadly for women across America, Mrs Trump’s husband firmly disagrees with her and is the reason that more than one in three American women live under a Trump abortion ban that threatens their health, their freedom and their lives.
“Donald Trump has made it abundantly clear: if he wins in November, he will ban abortion nationwide, punish women and restrict women’s access to reproductive healthcare.”
