Melania Trump has reportedly defended the right to abortion in her upcoming memoir, writing 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”.
Her husband Donald Trump has come under scrutiny for his stance on abortion, having previously signalled support for a national ban beyond 15 weeks of pregnancy.
His current position is to back states to decide abortion laws and support exceptions to a ban in the case of rape, incest or danger to the mother’s life.
However, Mrs Trump, who served as first lady during her husband’s previous stint in the White House, has reportedly laid out her position in her memoir, entitled “Melania”.
According to The Guardian, which reports it has seen a copy ahead of publication next week, she writes that women should be “free from any intervention or pressure from the government”.
“Restricting a woman’s right to choose whether to terminate an unwanted pregnancy is the same as denying her control over her own body,” she has written.
“I have carried this belief with me throughout my entire adult life.”
She also writes: “Why should anyone other than the woman herself have the power to determine what she does with her own body?”
A spokesperson for Mrs Trump has not yet responded to a request for comment.
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Trump in April: Abortion up to US states
This election is the first since the Supreme Court overturned the landmark Roe v Wade ruling, which ended a nearly 50-year constitutional right to abortion in the US.
Since then, nearly two dozen US states have banned or limited access to the procedure.
Mr Trump previously said he was “proudly the person responsible” for the court overturning the ruling in 2022 – which had protected a right to abortion at up to around 24 to 28 weeks – as judges he appointed while president won the vote.
He has also falsely claimed that Democrats support abortion after the baby is born.
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The rival Democrat campaign views abortion rights as an issue for candidate Kamala Harris to use against the former president.
A spokesperson for the Harris campaign said: “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”.