WASHINGTON – Donald Trump, the Republican Party’s presumptive presidential nominee, suggested Tuesday during a taped interview with a Pittsburgh television news station that he might be open to states restricting access to contraceptives, though he later appeared to backtrack.
“We’re looking at it and I’ll be developing a policy on it soon and I think you’ll find it interesting,” Trump said on KDKA. “This is another very interesting issue. But you will find that it is very wise. I think this is a wise decision, but we will publish it soon.”
Trump was asked if he supported “any restrictions on the human right to contraception.”
Trump later added that “things really have a lot to do with the states. And some states will have different policies than others. This comment came right after he was asked if he “might support some restrictions, like the morning-after pill or something?”
Former president, i.e. the so-called currently on trial for allegedly facilitating secret payments to an adult film actress during his 2016 campaign to cover up an earlier affair, he later posted on his social media platform that he did not support birth control restrictions.
“I have never advocated imposing restrictions on birth control or other contraceptives,” Trump wrote. “This is a fabricated lie by the Democrats, DISINFORMATION/DISINFORMATION, because they have no other option but FAILURE, POVERTY AND DEATH. I DO NOT SUPPORT BIRTH CONTROL BAN AND THE REPUBLICAN PARTY WILL NOT!”
Supreme Court rulings
The U.S. Supreme Court has twice ruled in favor of the right to privacy when it comes to contraceptive decisions, meaning any state seeking to restrict or ban access to birth control will quickly face challenges to that right in federal court.
In the 1965 Griswold v. Connecticut case thingjudges invalidated a Connecticut law that prohibited married couples from using contraceptives, writing that “the right to privacy can be inferred from several amendments to the Bill of Rights, and this law prevents states from making contraceptive use illegal for married couples.”
The Supreme Court later ruled in the 1972 case of Eisenstadt v. Baird thing that the same privacy rights that protected married couples’ decision-making about contraceptives also protected unmarried people.
In that case, the justices ruled that “unmarried couples have a right to use contraception based on the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment and the more vague constitutional right to privacy.”
Biden-Harris spokeswoman Sarafina Chitika released a written statement Tuesday saying Trump’s comments show he “wants to strip us of our freedom to access birth control.”
“Women across the country are already suffering under Donald Trump’s post-Roe nomination nightmare, and if he wins a second term, it is clear he wants to go even further by limiting access to contraception and emergency contraceptives,” Chitika wrote. “It is not enough for Trump that women’s lives are at risk, doctors face prison terms and extreme bans are introduced, with no exceptions in the case of rape and incest.”
KDKA-TV Finance and Politics Editor Jon Delano published on social media that viewers interested in the Trump interview could tune in at 4, 5 and 6 to hear AP commentary on the trial, abortion, contraceptives, the economy, energy, trade and election integrity.
Biden campaign published fragments of the interview on their social media account, but it didn’t seem to be available anywhere else before KDKA aired.
Other political tips from Trump
In an April interview with Time magazine, Trump had previously teased laying out clear policy plans interview that his campaign will provide details of his “strong views” on access to mifepristone in the coming weeks. As of Tuesday afternoon, the campaign had not been successful.
This drug is one of two medications used in medical abortions and is currently being considered by the U.S. Supreme Court.
Judges heard oral arguments on the issue in March and are expected to decide this summer whether to leave the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s prescribing guidelines in place or revert to what was in place before the changes that took effect in 2016.
Trump told Time magazine that he has no intention of clarifying his beliefs about access to mifepristone at this time.
“Well, I have my opinion on it, but I’m not going to explain it,” Trump said, according to The Times. transcription interview. – I won’t say it yet. But I have some pretty sturdy views on this. And I will publish it probably next week.”
