Trump says Arizona went too far in abortion ruling

Former President Donald Trump said Wednesday that Arizona went too far after the state’s high court issued a ruling outlawing abortion and added that he wouldn’t sign a national ban if he’s reelected president in November.

Trump made his comments to reporters and supporters in Atlanta just days after he said abortion should be left up to states to decide and that he wouldn’t support a federal ban on the procedure.

“Yeah, they did and I think it’ll be straightened out and, as you know, it's all about state’s rights and it will be straightened out,” Trump said when asked if Arizona’s ruling went too far. “And I’m sure the governor and everybody else have got to bring it back into reason and that it will be taken care of I think.”

But Trump signaling that Arizona, a key battleground state, went too far in banning abortion is a sign of just how politically volatile the issue is for Republicans ahead of the November election. Polling shows that full abortion bans without exceptions for victims of rape and incest are deeply unpopular with voters, and Democrats are again planning to use the issue to mobilize their party ahead of the November elections after seeing success with the tactic in the 2022 midterms, months after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade.

Michael Tyler, the Biden campaign’s communications director, said in a statement Wednesday that “Donald Trump owns the suffering and chaos happening right now, including in Arizona, because he proudly overturned Roe — something he called ‘an incredible thing’ and ‘pretty amazing’ just today."

"Trump lies constantly — about everything — but has one track record: banning abortion every chance he gets," Tyler said. "The guy who wants to be a dictator on day one will use every tool at his disposal to ban abortion nationwide, with or without Congress, and running away from reporters to his private jet like a coward doesn’t change that reality.”

Arizona’s Supreme Court upheld a 160-year-old law on Tuesday outlawing abortions unless the patient’s life is in danger. The court said enforcement won’t begin for at least two weeks to give the parties in the lawsuit time to pursue any constitutional challenges to the pre-statehood law. But that timeline is expected to be extended for at least 45 days after the high court finalizes its ruling, under a decision in a separate court challenge.

The decision by the state's high court has also energized abortion rights advocates to put a ballot measure in front of voters in November. Groups such as the ACLU of Arizona and Planned Parenthood Advocates of Arizona say that they have acquired enough signatures to establish a ballot measure, according to the Arizona Republic.

“Arizona is definitely going to change, everybody wants that to happen,” Trump said after greeting supporters at the Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport.

Republican Senate candidate Kari Lake came out against the Arizona ruling on Tuesday and called on Democratic Gov. Katie Hobbs and the state legislature to "come up with an immediate commonsense solution." However, Lake voiced support for the law two years ago by calling it a "great law." Lake isn't the only Republican in Arizona to push back on the ruling. Rep. David Schweikert said abortion "should be decided by Arizonans, not legislated from the bench" and Rep. Juan Ciscomani said that Tuesday's ruling was “a disaster for women and providers."

Trump’s comments on Wednesday come after his announcement earlier this week that he believes that abortion should be left to the states in the post-Roe era, declining to endorse any national limit on the procedure. Leaving the decision up to the states is seen as a way for Trump to appease competing factions within the Republican Party.

The former president also weighed in on abortion bans in Florida, where the state Supreme Court last week upheld the state’s ban on abortion at 15 weeks of pregnancy but also ruled that a ballot initiative seeking to protect the procedure can go before voters in November. Another six-week ban will go into effect within 30 days of the high court’s ruling.

“Florida is probably going to maybe change also,” Trump said. “It’s the will of the people, that’s all I’ve been saying. It’s a perfect system. So for 52 years, people wanted to end Roe v Wade to get it back to the states. We did that. It was an incredible thing. And now the states have it and the states are putting out what they want. So Florida is probably going to change.”

Trump’s Monday announcement to leave abortion policy to states drew a swift rebuke from one of the nation’s leading anti-abortion rights groups, Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America, which had urged Trump to endorse a 15-week federal ban. Former Vice President Mike Pence slammed his former boss’ abortion stance by calling it a “slap in the face” and Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) “respectfully” disagreed with Trump’s stance.

Trump pushed back at Republicans who voiced their disagreement, most notably by calling out Graham on social media and saying that the senator’s abortion stance is “handing Democrats their dream.”

“Many Good Republicans lost Elections because of this Issue, and people like Lindsey Graham, that are unrelenting, are handing Democrats their dream of the House, Senate, and perhaps even the Presidency," Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform.