Trump on Restricting Access to Contraception: ‘We’re Looking at That’

Ryan Bort
·3 min read
25

Donald Trump signaled in an interview with a local Pittsburgh TV station that he is open to restricting access to birth control.

KDKA aired an interview with the former president shortly after his defense team rested its case in his criminal hush-money trial in New York.

“Do you support any restrictions on a person’s right to contraception?” host Jon Delano asked.

“We’re looking at that, and I’m going to have a policy on that very shortly and I think it’s something that you’ll find interesting,” Trump replied. “You will find it very smart. I think it’s a smart decision.”

“We’ll be releasing it very soon,” he added. Trump has often promised to release policy proposals “soon” and then never delivering — perhaps most notably as he was working to repeal the Affordable Care Act, Democrats’ 2010 health care law, during his first term in office.

It’s unlikely a proposal to limit contraception will be released considering Trump later on Truth Social denied he was ever considering it. “I HAVE NEVER, AND WILL NEVER ADVOCATE IMPOSING RESTRICTIONS ON BIRTH CONTROL, or other contraceptives,” he wrote. “This is a Democrat fabricated lie, MISINFORMATION/DISINFORMATION, because they have nothing else to run on except FAILURE, POVERTY, AND DEATH. I DO NOT SUPPORT A BAN ON BIRTH CONTROL, AND NEITHER WILL THE REPUBLICAN PARTY!”

But Trump’s comments are still alarming, given the nationwide assault on women’s health care in the wake of the Supreme Court killing Roe v. Wade in 2022. The former president has long taken credit for the decision, as he appointed three justices to the court, giving conservatives a 6-3 supermajority.

The conservative movement has long teased the idea of restricting access to birth control, but they’ve moved beyond wishcasting with a potential second Trump term on the horizon. Rolling Stone reported last year on how Republicans’ “Project 2025” plan — a wide-ranging suite of right-wing policy for Trump to enact if he retakes the White House — would wreak havoc on women’s health care. It includes a proposal to end the Affordable Care Act’s contraception mandate, and could even result in the arrest and prosecution of anyone who sends abortion medication or emergency contraception in the mail.

Trump has tried — and largely failed — to paint himself as a moderate on abortion, claiming publicly that he wants the issue to be left to the states while also entertaining the idea of a national ban. Regardless, there’s little doubt that women’s health care will be in the crosshairs should he win in November.

President Biden’s team was quick to respond to Trump’s comments. “Women across the country are already suffering from Donald Trump’s post-Roe nightmare, and if he wins a second term, it’s clear he wants to go even further by restricting access to birth control and emergency contraceptives,” spokesperson Sarafina Chitika said in a statement provided to Rolling Stone. “It’s not enough for Trump that women’s lives are being put at risk, doctors are being threatened with jail time, and extreme bans are being enacted with no exceptions for rape or incest. He wants to rip away our freedom to access birth control too.”

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