In just 24 hours former President Donald Trump completely flip-flopped on how he'll vote on Florida's abortion rights initiative in November.
In an interview Thursday he condemned the state's law banning abortions after six weeks before many women even know they're pregnant.
"I think the six weeks is too short," Trump told NBC News in an interview. "It has to be more time. I told them that I want more weeks."
Asked how he'll vote in the upcoming initiative in his home state Trump responded: "I'm going to be voting that we need more than six weeks."
He also said he believes that abortion should be allow in cases of rape and incest, and to save the life of the mother.
On Friday, however, he flatly contradicted himself to a Fox News reporter, saying that he'll be voting "no" on the ballot initiative that would amend the state's constitution to protect abortion rights. The six-week ban would remain in effect if the initiative fails.
To support his somersault, Trump preposterously claimed that some states allow babies to be "executed" after birth, thanks to Democrats.
BREAKING: In a massive flip-flop, Trump says he is voting NO on a ballot proposal in Florida to repeal the state’s six-week abortion ban.
— Trump L’s (@Trump_Losses) August 30, 2024
Retweet so all Americans know that Trump supports a six-week abortion ban. pic.twitter.com/aLcSjOaroD
Some critics blasted Trump's vow to Fox as a "double flip flop" since he began as an staunch abortion foe.
The contortions underscore Trump's efforts to satisfy his evangelical support base without further alienating female voters. Some observers say the coming election is poised to become one the biggest gender gaps in American history as female voters line up against Trump because of his attitudes toward women and reproductive rights.
He's now attempting to walk a line expressing compassion about women voters' demands that they control their own bodies at the same time he has crowed that his appointments to the Supreme Court killed Roe v. Wade and eliminated national abortion rights.
He has also falsely claimed that "everyone" supported the end of Roe v. Wade (a majority of Americans wanted the decision preserved).
"I'm the one that got rid of Roe v. Wade," Trump preened in a Newsmax interview.
He also said just last year that he should be celebrated for every state abortion ban in the nation, apparently including those with no exceptions and six-week limits.
Trump's campaign insisted after the Florida abortion vote promise in the NBC interview that he had not yet decided how he will vote.
In another sop to women and families, Trump earlier this week vowed to arrange coverage of in vitro fertilization treatment by the government or mandated insurance payments. He did not detail how the price of IVF, which can cost tens of thousands of dollars, would be covered.
IVF has been opposed by Trump's own running mate JD Vance, as well as many evangelicals, who are a key block of Trump supporters, because some embryos are discarded during the process. That opposition has triggered fears of a ban by parents who can't conceive without the fertility treatment.
Senate Republicans — including Vance— voted against a bill in June that would have protected IVF access across the country.
An Alabama Supreme Court decision earlier this year temporarily cut off access to IVF by defining embryos as "children" until state lawmakers intervened.
Trump: I’m the one that got rid of Roe V Wade pic.twitter.com/o24OhRNqV7
— Acyn (@Acyn) May 16, 2023
