In a split with Trump, Ben Carson calls for a national abortion ban

Ben Carson, who is often talked about as a potential running mate for Donald Trump, is out with a new book in which he calls for a federal ban on abortion — a notable difference from the former president.

"What is needed is legislation that guarantees the right to life for all American citizens, including those still in the womb," Carson — a noted pediatric neurosurgeon who was the Trump administration's secretary of housing and urban development — writes in "The Perilous Fight," which was released Tuesday. "Therefore, we must be boldly vocal about saving our fellow human beings through the legislative process. They are counting on us!"

Trump's current stance is not in favor of a national ban on abortion, the issue that continues to dog Republicans in recent elections.

In April, he released a video saying he believed abortion policy should be left up to the states.

"My view is, now that we have abortion where everybody wanted it from a legal standpoint, the states will determine by vote or legislation, or perhaps both, and whatever they decide must be the law of the land," Trump said.

The video did little to put the issue to rest for Trump — whose Supreme Court nominations sealed the deal on overturning Roe v. Wade — or for other Republican candidates, who have since had to weigh in on extreme abortion bans in the states.

Carson's book calls for a return to conservative values, such as for men to "assume the responsibility of leadership" in families and ways to combat the "decline of the American family."

He speaks about the Israel-Hamas war, writing that Israel was caught by surprise on Oct. 7 because of the "coordination of those attacks at a single time and in a specific order."

"A similar attack is taking place against America, specifically against American families," Carson writes, adding that the country's enemies are engaged in a "prolonged, coordinated, multipronged assault with the specific goal of devastating our families."

Carson has long been conservative on the issue of abortion. When he was running for president in 2015, he likened women who terminate pregnancies to "slave owners" on NBC News' "Meet the Press."

“During slavery — and I know that’s one of those words you’re not supposed to say, but I’m saying it — during slavery, a lot of the slave owners thought that they had the right to do whatever they wanted to that slave, anything that they chose to do. And what if the abolitionists had said: ‘You know, I don’t believe in slavery. I think it’s wrong, but you guys do whatever you want to do’? Where would we be?”

Carson also said that he was open to considering allowing women to terminate pregnancies to save their lives but that he did not believe in exceptions for rape and incest.

“Rape and incest — I would not be in favor of killing a baby because the baby came about in that way,” he said.

In his new book, in addition to calls for banning abortion, Carson also calls for cuts to federal assistance for single mothers.

"Many of the welfare programs enacted by our government have locked recipients into a cage of dependence from which they can find no escape," Carson writes. "We are incentivizing people to raise children outside of traditional families, which means we are pushing parents to make decisions we know will be harmful to their children. These systems must stop. Not immediately, of course. There would need to be a three-to-five-year waiting period so people can make alternate plans."

The Trump campaign is still in the early stages of the running mate selection process, according to sources who have spoken with NBC News, as he and his top aides remain focused on his criminal trial in New York City, which takes up four days a week.

But abortion has been an issue Trump is considering when it comes to choosing a running mate, sources close to him told NBC News in March, and the Democratic group EMILY’s List has already made it clear that it plans to go after whoever his pick is as an “extremist” on the issue.

This article was originally published on NBCNews.com