Melania Trump gave a full-throated support for abortion rights in her upcoming memoir, a copy of which was obtained by The Guardian ahead of its Oct. 8 release.
In the book titled ‘Melania’ the former first lady says that she’s always believed that “restricting a woman’s right to choose whether to terminate an unwanted pregnancy is the same as denying her control over her own body.”
“Why should anyone other than the woman herself have the power to determine what she does with her own body?” Melania Trump writes, according to the outlet. “A woman’s fundamental right of individual liberty, to her own life, grants her the authority to terminate her pregnancy if she wishes.”
In a video posted to social media Melania declares that “individual freedom is a fundamental principle that I safeguard without a doubt.”
“There is no room for compromise when it comes to this essential right that all women possess from birth: individual freedom,” she added in the video. “What does ‘my body, my choice’ really mean?”
Melania’s comments stand in stark contrast to her husband, Donald Trump, who regularly takes credit for the overturning of Roe v. Wade, which eliminated federal protections for abortion, and has taken a ‘states rights’ approach to the issue even as Republican-led states enact severe restrictions on the procedure.
Earlier this week Trump claimed he would veto a federal abortion. But he was the one who appointed three conservative justices who voted to overturn Roe v. Wade in 2022, leading to draconian anti-abortion laws in Republican states.
“Sadly for the women across America, Mrs. Trump’s husband firmly disagrees with her and is the reason that more than one in three American women live under a Trump Abortion Ban that threatens their health, their freedom, and their lives,” Sarafine Chitika, a spokesperson for the Harris campaign said in a statement.
“Donald Trump has made it abundantly clear: If he wins in November, he will ban abortion nationwide, punish women, and restrict women’s access to reproductive health care,” Chitika said.
