Michael Vadon, CC BY 2.0 DEED, via Flickr, Cropped by Resist the Mainstream

On Tuesday, Former President Donald Trump said that “you have to have exceptions” for abortion, telling 77 WABC radio host Sid Rosenberg that those exceptions exist in the cases of rape, incest and endangerment of the life of the mother.

“The Democrats have the radical theory because they’re willing to do abortions in the ninth month, and even after the baby is born. You’ve seen that with the governor of Virginia, the former governor of Virginia, where he said even after the baby is born. And nobody — it’s not acceptable to anybody. No, and I believe in the exceptions, and it’s to be very important,” Trump told Rosenberg. “The three exceptions — same as Ronald Reagan, by the way. The same as Ronald Reagan. And, uh, you have the exceptions, and then we’re gonna come up with a time and maybe we could bring the country together on that issue.”

“You know, other civilized countries in the world, they have, they have standards. And that’s what we have to have,” the former president continued. “But you have to have, in my opinion — and again, you have to follow your heart. Some people want to take a tougher stand on it. They don’t want any exceptions under any circumstances.”

“My attitude is you have to have exceptions if there’s rape, incest, the life of the mother … uh, you have to have exceptions,” Trump said.

Trump added that he “never had a problem” with the issue of abortion, expressing his belief that the U.S. Supreme Court’s overturning of Roe v. Wade rightfully brought the issue back to the state level. 

In June 2022, when The Supreme Court ruled in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, the case that overturned the landmark 1976 case Roe v. Wade, a 6-3 majority of justices upheld Mississippi’s 15-week abortion limit. 

“The radicals are the Democrats, ’cause they’re okay with abortion in the ninth month, seventh month, eighth month, ninth month, sixth month — nobody wants that. Nobody wants it. So uh, if you have exceptions, and you do the exceptions, and about 80% of the Republicans, from what I understand, do have exceptions,” Trump said.

Trump argued that the exceptions for abortions are effectively required in order for Republicans to have a chance in elections, noting that “even hardliners” are agreeing on a 15-week threshold. 

Trump previously blasted several GOP candidates for “poorly” handling the abortion issue during the disappointing 2022 Midterm Elections on Truth Social in January 2023.

“I think others are being there because you also have to win elections. You have to win. I tell people, some people say, you know, they have very hardline, I say, ‘Here’s the problem. You have to win elections.’ And otherwise, you’ll be right back where you started,” Trump said.

“I think that I’ve never had a problem with the issue, and a lot of people have,” he continued. “We’ve, you know, lost a lot of seats because of that. And because of views that are just, uh, impractical. At the same time, you have to follow your heart.”