Melania Trump teases split with GOP over abortion

• Melania Trump signals a break with the Republican Party on abortion.
• In a new video, she says there is “no room for compromise” when it comes to women's “individual freedom.”
• She is also expected to express her unwavering support for abortion rights in her upcoming memoir.

With just over a month to go before the 2024 election, Melania Trump shares the Republican Party's stance on abortion rights.

In a video posted on social media to promote her upcoming memoir, the former first lady explains that “individual freedom is a fundamental principle that I, without a doubt, protect.”

“There is no room for compromise when it comes to this essential right that all women are born with: individual freedom,” Trump says in the video. “What does 'my body, my choice' really mean?”

According to an excerpt from the book obtained by The Guardian, Melania Trump declares her unwavering support for abortion rights and writes that she has always believed that “restricting a woman's right to choose whether to have an unwanted abortion Terminating a pregnancy is tantamount to denying her control over her own body.

“Why should anyone other than the woman herself have the power to decide what she does with her own body?” writes Melania Trump, according to the outlet. “A woman’s fundamental right to individual freedom and her own life gives her the power to terminate her pregnancy if she wishes.”

It is the first time the former first lady has spoken out on the issue, and former President Donald Trump has sought to moderate his stance on abortion in this year's election cycle.

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Trump has taken a “states rights” approach to the issue, saying he supports each state setting its own abortion laws. Earlier this week, he even said he would veto a federal abortion ban.

Democrats have long argued that Trump cannot be trusted with this stance, pointing to his appointment of three conservative Supreme Court justices who voted to overturn Roe v. Wade in 2022, leading to abortion bans in states across the country.

“Unfortunately for women across America, Ms. Trump’s husband strongly disagrees with her and is the reason more than one in three American women are living under a Trump abortion ban that threatens their health, their freedom and their lives,” said Sarafine Chitika, a spokesman for the Harris campaign. “Donald Trump has made it clear: If he wins in November, he will ban abortions nationwide, penalize women and restrict women’s access to reproductive health care.”

Vice President Kamala Harris has pledged to sign legislation to restore abortion rights nationwide and recently reiterated her support for eliminating the Senate's 60-vote “filibuster” rule to that end.

A spokesman for the Trump campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Melania Trump's memoir is scheduled to be published on October 8th. In previous promotional videos she has defended her previous nude modeling work and implied that there was a conspiracy behind her husband's assassination attempt at a rally in Pennsylvania in July.