Seema Mehta, Jenny Jarvie
Wed, October 2, 2024
Former First Lady Melania Trump arrives at the Republican National Convention in July. (Jason Armond / Los Angeles Times)
Former First Lady Melania Trump offered a passionate defense of a woman's right to abortion, including in the late stages of pregnancy — a direct contradiction of the views of her husband, Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump, according to excerpts of her memoir that is scheduled to be released next week.
“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,” the former president's wife writes in "Melania," according to a report published by the Guardian on Wednesday.
Melania Trump's comments are a political bombshell coming in the final weeks of a presidential campaign in which Donald Trump’s threats to women’s reproductive rights have played a central role. She has rarely been seen publicly during her husband's campaign against Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris — an exceptionally tight contest that could be decided by a small number of voters in a handful of battleground states.
She appeared at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee shortly after her husband survived an assassination attempt. Two of the former first lady's most high-profile appearances were headlining fundraisers, including one at her home in Trump Tower in Manhattan that raised a couple of million dollars for the pro-LGBTQ+ Log Cabin Republicans. Her participation in the events raised eyebrows when it was revealed she received six-figure payments to take part, though it is unclear who paid.
Melania Trump wrote that she has carried beliefs about a woman's right to bodily autonomy her entire adult life.
“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," Trump wrote. “Restricting a woman’s right to choose whether to terminate an unwanted pregnancy is the same as denying her control over her own body.”
Trump and her husband's representatives did not respond to requests for comment Wednesday evening.
Since the U.S. Supreme Court in 2022 overturned Roe vs. Wade, the landmark decision that provided a federal right to abortion access, the issue has been central in the nation's politics. Advertisements in swing states such as Arizona feature the testimonials of women with unviable pregnancies who could not get timely medical care until their health worsened because of doctors' fears of running afoul of state laws.
ProPublica recently published a report about a Georgia woman who died because of lack of access to appropriate medical care as she suffered sepsis because of fetal tissue that was not expelled from her body after a medical abortion.
Read more: Former First Lady Melania Trump stays out of the public eye as Donald Trump runs for president
In addition to the presidential campaign, the matter has been on multiple state ballots and is expected to be critical in determining which party controls the House of Representatives — a result that could come down to suburban women in places such as Orange County and the suburbs of cities such as Philadelphia and Atlanta who may have conservative views but support abortion access.
Polling shows the majority of Americans do not approve of the Supreme Court’s decision in Dobbs vs. Jackson to overturn Roe, and support abortion rights.
Jessica Levinson, an election law professor at Loyola Law School, said Melania Trump's support for abortion rights shows why curtailing them — once an academic discussion that has now become a reality — could be deeply problematic for Republicans.
"One of Donald Trump's biggest impacts is how he changed the Supreme Court and their decision to overturn Roe v. Wade. Some have said if Kamala Harris wins, it's because Roe was overturned," she said. "And now we have the wife of the president who helped [facilitate] Roe being overturned saying she strongly supports a woman's right to choose. ... And she's not the only Republican woman to think that."
The former president has had a dizzying set of positions on the issue.
In 1999, he described himself as "very pro-choice.” In 2011, when he was courting conservatives as he considered a 2012 run for the White House, he said “I am pro-life.” In the weeks before he won the 2016 election, he vowed to overturn Roe vs. Wade.
Since the 2022 Supreme Court decision, Trump has frustrated his onetime allies in the antiabortion movement by repeatedly changing his message on abortion in response to GOP midterm losses and widespread public outrage and unease over abortion bans.
In early 2023, Trump blamed the “abortion issue” for Republicans underperforming expectations in the 2022 midterm elections. Six months later, on the anniversary of the Dobbs decision, he called himself the “most pro-life president ever” and boasted about appointing three U.S. Supreme Court justices who voted to overturn Roe.
Since then, Trump has gradually pivoted away from such strident antiabortion rhetoric.
In a September 2023 appearance on “Meet the Press,” Trump dubbed Florida’s six-week abortion ban “a terrible mistake.” He criticized Republicans who pushed for abortion bans without exceptions in cases of rape or incest and pledged to work with Democrats to pass a national bipartisan law on abortion.
“We’re going to agree to a number of weeks or months or however you want to define it,” Trump said. “And both sides are going to come together and both sides — both sides, and this is a big statement — both sides will come together. And for the first time in 52 years, you’ll have an issue that we can put behind us.”
From national to state and local races, Democrats have seized upon the issue of reproductive rights to drive their voters to the polls.
“Sadly for the 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," Sarafina Chitika, a Harris campaign spokeswoman, said in a statement. "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 health care.”
People who know Trump, whether friendly or adversarial with the former first lady, said her views were not surprising.
"She is her own woman, She has her own opinions," said someone with deep ties with the Trump campaign who has engaged with her regularly, and who asked for anonymity to speak candidly. "I think she and her husband's world views align on a lot of things. Just like any normal human beings, there are going to be areas where they disagree. She's not going to compromise on her beliefs. I think that's very clear if you've seen the trajectory of her entire career."
Donald Trump and Kamala Harris shake hands before the start of their September debate. (Alex Brandon / Associated Press)
Stephanie Grisham, the former first lady's former chief of staff and press secretary turned critic, said in an interview she was not surprised by Trump's beliefs, but she was surprised by the timing.
“She has always been very independent and done her own things, so the fact that she has such a different position from him on this topic doesn’t surprise me at all," said Grisham, who resigned after the insurrection at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. "The fact that she’s choosing to share it in a memoir is what I find odd. Sharing that excerpt right now and talking about it in a memoir at all is kind of strange. I don’t know, maybe she’s trying to appeal to a different audience in order to sell more copies of the book.”
It's not unusual for a president or nominee and their spouse to disagree on policy. Former President George H.W. Bush and Barbara Bush, and former President George W. Bush and Laura Bush did not see eye-to-eye on reproductive rights. Democratic presidential hopeful John Edwards and his late wife Elizabeth disagreed about same-sex marriage.
Trump's book suggests she has other disagreements with her husband on issues such as immigration, but that she prefers to deal with them outside of the public eye.
"Occasional political disagreements between me and my husband [are] part of our relationship, but I believed in addressing them privately rather than publicly challenging him,” Trump wrote.
Read more: Abortion quickly emerges as a flashpoint between Harris and Trump
A notable section of Trump's writing focuses on late-term abortions, which were a flashpoint in the sole debate between Donald Trump and Harris, with the Republican claiming that Democrats support allowing babies to be killed in the final months of pregnancy and after they are born.
“It’s an execution,” Trump said.
Killing babies after they are born is not legal in any state.
Very few women have abortions after the first or second trimester — fewer than 1% of such procedures are performed at or after 21 weeks of pregnancy, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Such procedures are almost always performed because of dire threats to the health of the mother or the fetus.
Her views on late-term abortion reflect the reality that women choose this route because of dire jeopardy to their health or their baby's.
“It is important to note that historically, most abortions conducted during the later stages of pregnancy were the result of severe fetal abnormalities that probably would have led to the death or stillbirth of the child. Perhaps even the death of the mother," Trump wrote. "These cases were extremely rare and typically occurred after several consultations between the woman and her doctor. As a community, we should embrace these common-sense standards.”
Mehta reported from Los Angeles, Jarvie from Atlanta.
This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
Anti-abortion activists turn on Melania Trump after ‘disgusting’ memoir revelation: ‘She is wrong’
Donald Trump said he would veto a national abortion ban this week
Melania Trump reveals she is pro-choice in contrast with her husband Donald Trump
Melania Trump is facing ire from anti-abortion Republicans over her defense of the procedure in her upcoming memoir.
The former First Lady defended abortion rights in her forthcoming book Melania, according to an advance copy obtained by The Guardian, despite her husband’s role in dismantling abortion protections.
“Why should anyone other than the woman herself have the power to determine what she does with her own body?” Melania wrote. “A woman’s fundamental right of individual liberty, to her own life, grants her the authority to terminate her pregnancy if she wishes.”
Donald Trump nominated the three justices who secured the Supreme Court’s 6-3 conservative majority — Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett — and ensured the court could overturn Roe v Wade, the decision that guaranteed nationwide access to abortion.
Trump, however, has come out against a national abortion ban, saying he would veto it if elected and that the decision should be left to the states.
Kristan Hawkins, the president of Students for Life of America, blasted Melania on X, calling her “wrong.”
“Melania Trump’s support of abortion is anti-feminist and clearly outside the teaching of our Catholic faith,” Hawkins wrote. “She is wrong.”
“What a lost opportunity to inspire a generation of young women,” the anti-abortion activist added. “I won’t be buying Melania’s book.”
Allie Stuckey, a conservative commentator, political podcast host and anti-abortion activist, called the former First Lady’s position “disgusting” and “incoherent.”
“Melania coming out unapologetically in favor of abortion 50 days before the election is demoralizing, even if she’s not the one signing bills into law,” Stuckey wrote on X. “I’ve said I’d vote for Trump on the immigration issue alone, and that’s still true. But let’s not pretend pro-lifers have no reason to feel frustrated.”
This move could hurt Trump’s cause because my anti-abortion activists have been passionate campaigners, GOP strategist Liz Mair told The Guardian.
“This might be just another thing that piles on to make pro-lifers think: ‘I just can’t with this guy.’ A lot of them were single-issue voters anyway,” Mair told the outlet. “He’s not really giving them much of an incentive to show up and do anything to his benefit.”
Abortion is considered the second most important issue for voters, according to a poll from Redfield & Wilton Strategies released on September 26.
Kamala Harris, who has repeatedly blamed Trump for ending nationwide access to abortion, is currently ahead with a 2.8-point lead, according to the latest average of national polls.
Harris also retains a 12-point lead among women, while Trump has a 14-point lead among men, a New York Times/Siena College poll revealed last month.
The Independent has contacted Melania Trump’s office for comment.
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