Donald Trump has said he will vote against a ballot measure in his home state of Florida that would protect abortion rights after facing backlash from conservative supporters.
The former president’s announcement came one day after an NBC News interview in which he appeared to support the measure – a statement that caused anti-abortion activists to openly criticise him.
On Friday, Trump told Fox News that he still thinks Florida’s ban on abortions after six weeks is too strict.
However he said would still vote “no” on a measure that would amend the state’s constitution to protect abortion rights.
“You need more time than six weeks,” Trump said. “I’ve disagreed with that right from the early primaries when I heard about it.”
He then falsely alleged that Democrats in the US supported allowing abortions at any point during a pregnancy, which he used as his explanation for deciding to vote against the ballot measure in Florida as a voter in the state.
Abortion laws vary widely in states across the US, but procedures after 21 weeks of pregnancy are rare and are often related to foetal anomalies or threats to the mother’s life, according to the non-profit health organisation KFF.
The Republican presidential nominee’s decision to vote against the Florida abortion measure comes just one day after he was asked by NBC News how he would vote.
“I think the six week is too short,” Trump said in the interview. “It has to be more time. I told them that I want more weeks.”
“I am going to be voting that we need more than six weeks,” he said when pressed.
His Democratic opponent, Vice-President Kamala Harris, quickly responded to Trump’s announcement that he would support continuing Florida’s abortion ban as indicative of him continuing his anti-abortion stance.
“Donald Trump just made his position on abortion very clear: He will vote to uphold an abortion ban so extreme it applies before many women even know they are pregnant,” she said in a statement.
