Former President Donald Trump's public opinion on abortion has shifted over the years, most recently on Monday when he said that the matter should be left for states to decide.
1989: 11 years before his first presidential run, the New York real estate magnate co-sponsored an event celebrating a former National Abortion Rights Action League president. However, he didn't attend the event because he and his family "were threatened in phone calls."
1999: Trump appeared on NBC News' "Meet the Press," where he said he was "very pro-choice" but hated "the concept of abortion."
2011: "The Apprentice" star gave his first speech at the Conservative Political Action Conference. "Just very briefly, I'm pro-life," he said.
2016: While on the campaign trail in March, Trump said at a town hall that there should be "some form of punishment" for women who get abortions.
Hours later, before the town hall even aired, Trump's spokesperson said the candidate thought states should decide the issue. His campaign later issued a statement saying that women shouldn't be prosecuted for receiving an abortion; instead, the campaign said the medical professional responsible for the procedure should be.
A day after the flip-flop, Trump said, "the laws are set now on abortion, and that's the way they're going to remain until they're changed."
2016: Weeks after getting elected, Trump doubled down on his campaign pledge to appoint pro-life judges to the Supreme Court and said the issue "would go back to the states" if the high court ever reversed Roe v. Wade.
2022: After making good on his promise and appointing three justices, the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, leading the then-former president to reaffirm his stance on the matter.
"This brings everything back to the states where it has always belonged," Trump said just after the Supreme Court released its decision. "This is following the Constitution and giving rights back when they should have been given long ago."
He's since gloated repeatedly about his power and influence, bragging that without him, "the pro-life movement would have just kept losing."
2024: Trump released a video statement saying that he believes states should decide the issue.
"The states will determine by vote or legislation or perhaps both, and whatever they decide must be the law of the land," Trump said. "In this case, the law of the state."
He also falsely claimed that Democrats want to be able to execute babies after they're born.
"They support abortion up to and even beyond the ninth month," Trump said. "The concept of having an abortion in the later months, and even execution after birth. That's exactly what it is, the baby is born, and the baby is executed after birth."
