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Melania Trump is the last Republican lady to support abortion

2024-10-04 09:15:00, Kosova & Bota CNA

Melania Trump appears to have joined a long line of former Republican first ladies who have come out in support of abortion rights, putting them at odds with their husbands' public views.

In a short promo promoting her upcoming book, Mrs Trump expressed her support for women's "individual freedom", describing it as a "fundamental right that all women have from birth".

It comes a day after an excerpt of her soon-to-be-published memoir, in which she is said to take an even clearer pro-choice stance, was published in a newspaper report.

Mrs. Trump's apparent stance on the issue appears to contrast with that of her husband, who has been credited with helping overturn Roe v. Wade, changing the constitutional right to abortion. But he follows a decades-long American tradition of Republican first ladies who — since Roe v. Wade was first decided in 1973 — have said that legal access to abortion must be protected.

In 1975, while still in the White House, First Lady Betty Ford called the Roe decision a "big decision."

Nancy Reagan waited until her husband, President Ronald Reagan, left office before she publicly said she "believed in a woman's election," but her position on the matter is said to have been known within the White House.

Barbara Bush, wife of President George HW Bush, and her daughter-in-law, Laura Bush, wife of President George W Bush, were similar, revealing their stance on the issue after their husbands left the White House.

"I think it's important that it remains legal because I think it's important to people, for medical reasons and other reasons," Laura Bush said in a 2010 interview promoting her memoir.

Mrs. Trump's approach was different.

In a black-and-white video posted to her X account on Thursday, Mrs Trump said there was "no room for compromise when it comes to this fundamental right that all women possess from birth, individual liberty".

"What does my body mean, my choice?" Mrs. Trump continued.

The video comes a day after The Guardian published an extract from her new book, Melania, which will be published on October 8.

In the excerpt quoted by the Guardian, she writes, "It is imperative to guarantee that women have autonomy in deciding their preference to have children, based on their beliefs, free from any interference or pressure from the government."

"Why should anyone but the woman herself have the power to determine what she does with her body? A woman's fundamental right to individual freedom, to her own life, gives her the authority to terminate a pregnancy if she wishes," she continues.

"Limiting a woman's right to choose whether to terminate an unwanted pregnancy is tantamount to denying her control over her own body.

Kate Andersen Brower, a journalist and author of the book First Women, said she was "shocked" by the comments./ CNA