Melania Trump Says Women Should Be Able to Make Their Own Decisions About Abortion, a Right Her Husband Helped Take Away From Millions

Melania Trump has a memoir out later this month that Donald Trump has told supporters he was too busy to read. So it may come as a surprise to him that his wife wrote about how she’s apparently passionately pro-choice, and believes women should be able to obtain abortions any time they want—a right the ex-president took away from millions of people.

According to the Guardian, which obtained a copy of Melania ahead of its release next week, the former first lady says in her book: “It is imperative to guarantee that women have autonomy in deciding their preference of having children, based on their own convictions, free from any intervention or pressure from the government. Why should anyone other than the woman herself have the power to determine what she does with her own body? A woman’s fundamental right of individual liberty, to her own life, grants her the authority to terminate her pregnancy if she wishes. Restricting a woman’s right to choose whether to terminate an unwanted pregnancy is the same as denying her control over her own body. I have carried this belief with me throughout my entire adult life.” And she doesn’t stop there.

“It’s a very straightforward concept,” Melania continues. “In fact, we are all born with a set of fundamental rights, including the right to enjoy our lives. We are all entitled to maintain a gratifying and dignified existence. This common-sense approach applies to a woman’s natural right to make decisions about her own body and health.”

Wondering if the former first lady believes there should be a cutoff point as to when a person can no longer obtain an abortion, as her husband’s running mate declared during the vice-presidential debate this week? She does not. “It is important to note that historically, most abortions conducted during the later stages of pregnancy were the result of severe fetal abnormalities that probably would have led to the death or stillbirth of the child,” she says. “Perhaps even the death of the mother. These cases were extremely rare and typically occurred after several consultations between the woman and her doctor.” She also writes that while she is “in favor of the requirement that juveniles obtain parental consent before undergoing an abortion,” she “realize[s] this may not always be possible.“

The former first lady’s views on abortion are, of course, wildly out of step with those of her husband and his Republican brethren. While running for office in 2016, Trump vowed to exclusively nominate Supreme Court judges who would overturn Roe v. Wade; after that happened in June 2022, he bragged about killing the national right to an abortion and has not stopped bragging about it in the years since. While he defends his actions as simply sending the matter back to the “states” to decide, the overturning of Roe led to extreme or total abortion bans in numerous states, where some women have died as a result. Meanwhile, the ex-president regularly lies about abortion, claiming Democrats support “executing” babies after they are born. His running mate, JD Vance has previously called for a national abortion ban, and it is not at all out of the realm of possibility that one could go into effect in a second Trump administration, despite misleading claims to the contrary.

Touching on their opposing beliefs, Melania writes: “Occasional political disagreements between me and my husband…[are] part of our relationship, but I believed in addressing them privately rather than publicly challenging him.” Which, obviously, is pretty unfortunate for the many people who have been stripped of their reproductive rights thanks to Trump’s handiwork.

Why are we hearing about the former first lady’s views on abortion now, eight years after her spouse first ran for president? Abortion rights advocate Jessica Valenti has an idea:

It’s not a coincidence that her supposed full-throated support is being leaked right before the election….This woman has been complicit in her husband’s nightmare reign and bigotry, and now she wants to help put a glossy, softened sheen on his anti-abortion extremism. This is about covering up and distracting from how dangerous a Trump administration would be for women.

Which, if it’s not already abundantly clear, would be Handmaid’s Tale–level dangerous. On the bright side, anyone dying in a parking lot as a result of Trump’s Supreme Court nominations can take comfort in the fact that Melania “privately” complained to her husband.