CHICAGO (AP) — Anti-abortion leaders said Wednesday that they're undeterred after Donald Trump said he would veto a federal abortion ban, the first time he has explicitly said so after previously refusing to answer questions on the subject. During Tuesday night's vice presidential debate , the Republican presidential nominee posted on his social media platform Truth Social that “everyone knows I would not support a federal abortion ban, under any circumstances, and would, in fact, veto it.” He then said that abortion rights should be left up to the states — his most common response to questions about the issue since Roe v.
Wade was overturned by a conservative majority that included three of Trump's own appointees to the Supreme Court. In the two years since the ruling, abortion rights have emerged as a major vulnerability for the GOP, which has struggled to find a consistent message on the path forward, while driving turnout for Democrats. With the election less than five weeks away, Trump has been trying to thread a divide between his own base of anti-abortion supporters and the majority of Americans who support abortion rights.
The former president is trying to make up ground with women — a group that views Democratic nominee Kamala Harris more favorably nationally — in the handful of battleground states that will likely determine the winner. “Trump’s statement last night is just one more example of Republicans trying desperately to rebrand themselves on th.