Donald J. Trump, appearing in two crucial swing states on Tuesday, avoided discussing abortion but teased that he would address the issue “next week,” once again demurring on taking a clear position on the issue after two Florida Supreme Court rulings shook up the 2024 campaign in the former president’s home state.
The conservative top court in Florida on Monday allowed a strict six-week abortion ban to take effect in May while also allowing a proposed constitutional amendment to be placed on the ballot that would guarantee access to abortion “before viability,” or at about 24 weeks.
The rulings present a potential new vulnerability for Mr. Trump in the presidential race. Florida has become steadily more conservative in recent years, placing most statewide elections well out of reach for the Democratic Party. But the two decisions will elevate abortion — an issue that has carried many races for Democrats in recent years — to a position of prominence both on the campaign trail and on the ballot.
The former president indicated last month that he was likely to back a 15-week federal ban on abortion, while adding that he thought abortion should be a state issue — and that anti-abortion activists who wanted a ban earlier in pregnancy should understand that “you have to win elections.”
Mr. Trump did not otherwise address abortion in his campaign appearances on Tuesday in Grand Rapids, Mich., and Green Bay, Wis. Mr. Trump said that “we’ll make a statement next week on abortion” after being asked by a reporter in Grand Rapids if he supported the six-week ban in Florida. The pro-Trump crowd tried to drown out the question with boos and began chanting “four more years” and “U.S.A.” as Mr. Trump walked away.
Representatives of the Trump campaign did not immediately respond to questions about the abortion announcement and where that would fit into Mr. Trump’s campaign schedule. The former president has often promised policy plans — for example on infrastructure or health care — that are either delayed or never delivered.
President Biden and his campaign pounced on Mr. Trump’s promise of a coming abortion announcement. “You already made your statement, Donald,” Mr. Biden wrote on social media, along with a statement from Mr. Trump last year bragging that he “was able to kill Roe v. Wade” and that “without me there would be no six weeks, 10 weeks, 15 weeks, or whatever is finally agreed to.”
Sarafina Chitika, a spokeswoman for the Biden campaign, said in a statement that “Trump is ‘proud’ he overturned Roe v. Wade, and he is responsible for every extreme abortion ban, every attack on contraception and every cruel, dangerous restriction placed on women because of it.”
Mr. Trump has spoken often of the electoral advantage for Democrats on the issue. He has repeatedly complained that Republicans don’t know how to talk about abortion and has said that if conservative politicians “don’t speak about it correctly, they’re not going to win.” He has also previously singled out the six-week ban in Florida, signed by Gov. Ron DeSantis, his former rival for the nomination, as “a terrible thing and a terrible mistake.”
Mr. Trump’s campaign had put out a statement addressing the court decisions in Florida before Mr. Trump took the stage on Tuesday. Brian Hughes, a senior adviser for the campaign, said Mr. Trump “supports preserving life but has also made clear that he supports states’ rights because he supports the voters’ right to make decisions for themselves.”
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