Trump makes play for women's vote, vows to ensure 'powerful exceptions' for abortion

Former President Trump vowed to "protect women at a level never seen before" if elected, and to ensure that "powerful exceptions" for abortion are adopted across the nation, in a social media post early Saturday.

Trump, in the lengthy late-night missive to his Truth Social in all capitalized letters, said "women are poorer than they were four years ago, are less healthy than they were four years ago, are less safe on the streets than they were four years ago, are more depressed and unhappy than they were four years ago, and are less optimistic and confident in the future than they were four years ago." 

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"I will fix all of that, and fast, and at long last this national nightmare will be over," he said. "Women will be happy, healthy, confident and free!"

Polls have consistently shown Trump running strongly, against Vice President Kamala Harris in most demographic groups, but struggling with women. Much of that has been attributed to the fact that the three justices he picked for the Supreme Court helped overturn Roe v. Wade, which had enshrined abortion protections under federal law.

In his post, Trump wrote that women "will no longer be thinking about abortion, because it is now where it always had to be, with the states, and a vote of the people—and with powerful exceptions, like those that Ronald Reagan insisted on for rape, incest, and the life of the mother—but not allowing for Democrat demanded late term abortion in the 7th, 8th, or 9th month, or even execution of a baby after birth."

"I will protect women at a level never seen before," he said. "They will finally be healthy, hopeful, safe and secure." 

Trump added: "Their lives will be happy, beautiful, and great again!" 

The former president’s play for the female vote comes after Vice President Harris campaigned in Georgia, delivering a speech about the consequences of, what her campaign calls "extreme Trump Abortion Bans." 

"After Vice President Harris spent the week speaking about the consequences of Trump Abortion Bans and the stakes of this election for women’s lives, Donald Trump snapped — taking to his phone late at night to rant and rave about women," Harris-Walz 2024 Spokesperson Sarafina Chitika said in response to Trump’s Truth Social post. "After ripping away our reproductive freedom, now he’s trying to tell us how to think." 

Chitika said "Trump thinks he can control women — he’s wrong." 

The Harris campaign said he is "terrified that women across the country will vote like our lives and freedoms depend on it, because they do." 

"Women aren’t stupid. We see Trump’s Project 2025 agenda for what it is: an extreme plan to ban abortion nationwide and threaten access to IVF and birth control," Chitika said. "We’ll vote like it this November."

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But Trump campaign national press secretary Karoline Leavitt told Fox News Digital that Harris and President Joe Biden have put women's lives in danger, and noted the names of women who have been killed by illegal immigrants.

"President Trump is right. Kamala may want to be the first woman president, but she’s made the lives of women worse — more dangerous and more unaffordable," Leavitt said. "If Kamala cared about protecting women, she would close the border and stop allowing rapists and murderers to flow into our country to prey on young women and girls. Kamala has never said the names of Laken Riley, Jocelyn Nunguaray, and Rachel Morin. President Trump has honored their lives and consoled their grieving families." 

Leavitt added: "If women want safety, security and prosperity for our families, there’s only one option on the ballot — President Trump."

As for Project 2025, a blueprint for a Republican administration crafted by the Heritage Foundation, Leavitt repeated Trump's assertion that he did not commission it and has no plans to implement it if elected.

"President Trump has repeatedly said he has nothing to do with Project 2025," Leavitt said, adding that "Kamala’s campaign is lying because they are losing."

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Harris continues to claim that Trump will install a national abortion ban that would allow for no exceptions, despite Trump repeatedly saying that he would never support a national abortion ban, and believes in exceptions for abortion, including rape, incest, and life of the mother. 

Harris has refused to say whether she supports any abortion restrictions up to birth. 

Trump has vowed that he "will not block" abortion pills or abortion medication for women, should he be elected president.