Former President Donald Trump doubled down over the weekend on a bizarre all-caps message to female voters that he posted to his Truth Social page late Friday: “YOU WILL NO LONGER BE THINKING ABOUT ABORTION.”
He repeated the message nearly word-for-word during a rally Saturday afternoon in Wilmington, North Carolina, suggesting that women will no longer need to concern themselves with their reproductive rights under a second Trump term ― even as recent polls show his support flagging among women.
Trump reads his bizarre Truth Social rant: So let’s talk about our great women. Women have gone through a lot. Women are poorer than they were four years ago. Are less healthy than they were four years ago … You will no longer be thinking about abortion pic.twitter.com/4oryV835Lb
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) September 21, 2024
“Let’s talk about our great women, because women have gone through a lot,” Trump said, after he’d been speaking for around an hour.
He cited no evidence as he claimed women are now “more stressed and depressed,” less healthy, poorer and less safe than they were four years ago.
“I will fix all of that, women, I will fix all of that. And at long last, this national nightmare that we’re going through will be over. Women will be happy,” Trump said onstage.
He added, as he did on Truth Social, that if he wins, “You will no longer be thinking about abortion.”
But then his message became confused.
Trump gestured to his role in abolishing nationwide abortion rights in favor of allowing each state to enact their own laws, which is what happened when the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022. The lack of nationwide protections, however, has led some states to pursue extreme bans with very limited exceptions, leaving individual patients with slim or no options.
Trump suggested he supports “POWERFUL EXCEPTIONS” for rape and incest, even though he has no sway over state-level abortion laws and has refused to clarify his position on implementing a nationwide abortion policy of any kind.
The Supreme Court’s demolition of Roe v. Wade has proved overwhelmingly unpopular, although he has repeatedly claimed, falsely, that the move was actually popular.
According to a New York Times/Siena College poll last month, an increasing share of voters in swing states are saying abortion access is their top policy concern. That puts Trump, who has bragged about appointing the conservative Supreme Court justices that helped tip the scales in favor of repealing Roe, in a difficult spot.
Trump also repeated another regular lie at his rally about Democratic lawmakers wanting to “execute” newborns or “demanding” abortion late in pregnancy.
The suggestions are wholly without basis in fact. Abortion late in pregnancy is exceedingly rare; it is sometimes chosen in circumstances where a fetus develops a condition incompatible with life. It is not legal anywhere in the U.S. to intentionally kill an infant.
