Trump signals support for a 15-week abortion ban

Former President Donald Trump is suggesting he would be open to supporting a national ban on abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy, with exceptions in cases of rape, incest and endangerment to the life of the mother.

In an interview Tuesday with Sid Rosenberg on WABC, Trump weighed in on what he thinks would be an appropriate limit on the procedure after he touted the Supreme Court’s overturning of the landmark Roe v. Wade ruling in 2022 — a ruling that came after he appointed three conservative justices to the high court during his presidency.

“The number of weeks now, people are agreeing on 15, and I’m thinking in terms of that, and it’ll come out to something that’s very reasonable,” he said. “But people are really — even hardliners are agreeing — seems to be 15 weeks, seems to be a number that people are agreeing at.”

Trump said that he would make an announcement on his support for a specific limit on abortions “at the appropriate time” before going on to say that the issue of abortion should be left to the states to decide.

“The issue of abortion, we brought it back to the states,” Trump said, referring to the Supreme Court’s overturning of Roe v. Wade. “And everybody agrees, you’ve heard this for years, all the legal scholars on both sides agree it’s a state issue. It shouldn’t be a federal issue, it’s a state issue.”

The Trump campaign did not immediately respond to NBC News’ request for comment.

The former president’s remarks provide the clearest indication he has given to date on limits to abortion rights that he would potentially support.

The New York Times reported last month that Trump privately told his advisers he favors a ban on abortions after 16 weeks of pregnancy, which would include exceptions in cases of rape and incest and if a woman’s life is in danger.

A source familiar with conversations told NBC News at the time that Trump had raised the possibility of supporting a 16-week abortion ban in discussions with his advisers. However, a separate source stressed that the former president did not take a stance on a federal abortion ban.

The Trump campaign had pushed back on the reporting, calling it “fake news.”

“As President Trump has stated, he would sit down with both sides and negotiate a deal that everyone will be happy with,” Trump campaign national press secretary Karoline Leavitt said in a statement last month. “Joe Biden and virtually every Democrat in Congress is on the record supporting radical on-demand abortion.”