Melania Trump Supports Abortion Rights, Donald Trump Says She Should Follow Her Heart
Former First Lady Melania Trump, wife of Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump, expressed her support for abortion rights in a recent interview on FOX’s Sunday Morning Futures, which aired on Oct. 6.
Reporter read a passage from Melania’s upcoming memoir, Melania, where she states she is pro-choice and believes that “it is imperative to guarantee that women have autonomy in deciding their preference of having children, based on their own convictions, free from intervention or pressure from the government.”
When asked if she discussed her views on abortion rights with her husband before including them in her memoir, Melania affirmed her stance.
“Yes, he knew my position and my beliefs since the day we met, and I believe in individual freedom,” she said. “I want to decide what I want to do with my body. I think… I don’t want government in my personal business. I think it’s very important.”
The interview comes after reports earlier this week that Melania’s new memoir includes strong statements supporting abortion rights.
“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,” Melania writes in the memoir, according to The Guardian. She adds that she has held these pro-choice convictions throughout her adult life.
Melania’s reported statements in the memoir were followed by a promotional video posted on her official X (formerly Twitter) account, where she told the camera that “individual freedom is a fundamental principle that [she] safeguard[s].”
Donald addressed his wife’s stance in an interview with Fox News correspondent Bill Melugin, which aired Oct. 3., soon after The Guardian’s reporting. When Melugin asked what the former President thought when he read the book, he replied that he told his wife to “write what [she] believe[s].”
“I’m not going to tell you what to do,” Donald said, “I said [to Melania], ‘You have to stick with your heart.’”
Melania’s comments come just one month before the presidential election, in which her husband and Democratic nominee Kamala Harris have been locked in a heated debate over abortion rights. Harris has repeatedly criticized the Republican candidate for his role in the Supreme Court ruling that overturned Roe v. Wade, particularly because the former President appointed three of the justices who ruled in favor of overturning the landmark decision. In the nominee’s , the Republican candidate claimed the Democratic party’s position on abortion rights includes the support for “execution after birth.”
Meanwhile, during the vice-presidential debate on Oct. 1, Donald’s running mate, J.D. Vance, expressed his stance on the issue, saying he “never supported a national ban” for abortion—while in the past he “certainly would like abortion to be illegal nationally.” He went on to say during the debate that the Republican party has “to do so much better of a job at earning the American people’s trust on this issue where they frankly just don’t trust us.”
Beyond the presidential ballot, abortion rights are on the ballot in 10 different states during the general election on Nov. 5.