--- title: Melania Trump Shares Views on Abortion—and Donald's Reaction description: Former First Lady Melania Trump laid out her view that women should have the right to choose. canonical: https://time.com/7050707/melania-trump-abortion-views-memoir-interview-donald-trump-reaction/ author: Rebecca Schneid article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2024-10-06T19:46:55.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T07:50:16.487Z article:section: Politics og:title: Melania Trump Shares Her Views on Abortion in New Interview og:description: Former First Lady Melania Trump laid out her view that women should have the right to choose. og:url: https://time.com/7050707/melania-trump-abortion-views-memoir-interview-donald-trump-reaction/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4d1065ff5403be05/698a6b91b21a9c320850c1cf/GettyImages-2136582336.jpg?branch=production&width=1024&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1024 og:image:height: 576 og:image:alt: Former President Trump Arrives At A Fundraiser In Palm Beach, Florida og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Melania Trump Shares Her Views on Abortion in New Interview twitter:description: Former First Lady Melania Trump laid out her view that women should have the right to choose. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4d1065ff5403be05/698a6b91b21a9c320850c1cf/GettyImages-2136582336.jpg?branch=production&width=1024&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Melania Trump Shares Her Views on Abortion in New Interview—and Donald's Reaction > Sponsored content. 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Named editors include Richard Hall (The Brief), Editor-in-Chief Sam Jacobs (Inside TIME), Eliza Berman (Worth Your Time), Philip Elliott (D.C. Brief), Justin Worland (Future Proof) and Harry Booth (In the Loop). Health Matters is written by TIME's health desk. #### How do I sign up for a TIME newsletter? Go to time.com/newsletters, choose the newsletters you want and enter your email address. There is no cost and no subscription requirement. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-network-2026q3/newsletters?i=b00c6aa7-765e-4815-b340-eaf75f570832&cr=time-nl-network-2026q3-v1) ## Video: Here’s What Harris and Trump Said About Abortion in the 2024 Presidential Debate [Watch (HLS stream): Here’s What Harris and Trump Said About Abortion in the 2024 Presidential Debate](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/b6JeEC4U.m3u8) (2:23)  _Published 2024-09-11. Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump lambasted one another over their stances on abortion during the presidential debate Tuesday night._  by [Rebecca Schneid](https://time.com/author/rebecca-schneid/)  ## Rebecca Schneid Reporter Oct 6, 2024 7:46 PM UTC  Donald Trump is pictured with his wife, Melania Trump, on April 6, 2024, in Palm Beach, Florida. Donald Trump is pictured with his wife, Melania Trump, on April 6, 2024, in Palm Beach, Florida. Alon Skuy—Getty Images  by [Rebecca Schneid](https://time.com/author/rebecca-schneid/)  ## Rebecca Schneid Reporter Oct 6, 2024 7:46 PM UTC Former First Lady Melania Trump—the wife of Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump—laid out her supportive position on abortion rights in a new interview on FOX’s _Sunday Morning Futures_, which aired on Oct. 6. Reporter [Maria Bartiromo introduced the topic](https://x.com/SundayFutures/status/1842954901854499167) by reading out a portion of Melania’s upcoming memoir, _Melania_, including a section where she writes she is pro-choice, and a passage that states it “is imperative to guarantee that women have autonomy in deciding their preference of having children, based on their own convictions, free from intervention or pressure from the government.” When asked whether she spoke with her husband about her articulation of abortion rights before publishing them in her memoir, Melania backed up her comments. “Yes, he knew my position and my beliefs since the day we met, and I believe in individual freedom,” she said. “I want to decide what I want to do with my body. I think... I don’t want government in my personal business. I think it’s very important.” The interview comes after [_The Guardian_ reported](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/oct/02/melania-trump-memoir-defends-abortion-rights) earlier this week that Melania’s new memoir includes strong declarations of her support for abortion rights. “Why should anyone other than the woman herself have the power to determine what she does with her own body? A woman’s fundamental right of individual liberty, to her own life, grants her the authority to terminate her pregnancy if she wishes,” Melania writes in the memoir, according to _The Guardian._ She goes on to say she has held these pro-choice convictions for the entirety of her adult life. **Read More:** [_Here’s Where Abortion Will Be on the Ballot in the 2024 Election_](https://time.com/7018665/abortion-ballot-measures-2024/) Melania's reported statements in the memoir were followed by a promotional video posted on her official X (formerly Twitter) account, where she told the camera that “individual freedom is a fundamental principle that \[she\] safeguard\[s\].” Donald addressed his wife’s stance in an [interview with FOX News](https://www.foxnews.com/video/6362817926112)’ Bill Melugin, which aired Oct. 3., soon after _The Guardian’s_ reporting. When Melugin asked what the former President thought when he read the book, he replied that he told his wife to “write what \[she\] believe\[s\].” “I’m not going to tell you what to do,” Donald said, “I said \[to Melania\], ‘You have to stick with your heart.’” Melania’s comments come just one month before the presidential election, in which her husband and Democratic nominee Kamala Harris have been embroiled in [battles over abortion rights](https://www.cbsnews.com/news/trump-harris-abortion-2024/). Harris has repeatedly called out the Republican candidate for his role in the [_Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization_](https://time.com/6189476/abortion-supreme-court-overturns-roe-v-wade/) ruling that rolled back abortion rights_,_ particularly because the former President appointed three of the U.S. Supreme Court justices who ruled in favor of overturning the landmark decision. In the nominee’s [presidential debate in September](https://time.com/7019804/harris-trump-debate-abortion/), the Republican candidate[ falsely claimed](https://www.cbsnews.com/news/trump-falsely-claims-democrats-support-abortions-after-birth/) that the Democratic party’s position on abortion rights includes the support for “execution after birth.” Meanwhile, during the vice-presidential debate on Oct.1, Donald’s running mate, J.D. Vance, [spoke more moderately](https://time.com/7027577/vance-walz-debate-abortion/) on the issue, saying he “never supported a national ban” for abortion—while in the past [he said that](https://www.cnn.com/2024/07/17/politics/kfile-jd-vance-abortion-comments/index.html) he “certainly would like abortion to be illegal nationally.” He went on to say during the debate that the Republican party has “to do so much better of a job at earning the American people’s trust on this issue where they frankly just don’t trust us.” Beyond the presidential ballot, abortion rights [will be on the ballot](https://time.com/7018665/abortion-ballot-measures-2024/) in 10 different states during the general election on Nov. 5. ## Transcript They have abortion in the ninth month. They even have, and you can look at the governor of West Virginia, the previous governor of West Virginia, not the current governor is doing an excellent job, but the governor before, he said, the baby will be born, and we will decide what to do with the baby. In other words, we'll execute the baby. There is no state in this country where it is legal to kill a baby after it's born. Nowhere in America. Is a woman carrying a pregnancy to term and asking for an abortion. That is not happening. It's insulting to the women of America. One does not have to abandon their faith or deeply held beliefs to agree. The government and Donald Trump certainly should not be telling a woman what to do with her body. I have talked with women around our country. You want to talk about this is what people wanted pregnant women who want to carry a pregnancy to term, suffering from a miscarriage, being denied care in an emergency room because the healthcare providers are afraid they might go to jail, and she's bleeding out in a car in the parking lot. She didn't want that. Her husband didn't want that. A 12 or 13-year-old survivor of incest, being forced to carry a pregnancy to term. They don't want that And I pledge to you, when Congress passes a bill to put back in place the protections of Roe V Wade, as president of the United States, I will proudly sign it in to law. But understand if Donald Trump were to be re elected, he will sign a national abortion ban. But there she goes again, it's a lie. I'm not signing a ban, and there's no reason to sign a ban because we've gotten what everybody wanted. Democrats, Republicans, and everybody else, and every legal scholar wanted it to be brought back into the states. And the states are voting, and it may take a little time. But for 52 years, this issue has torn our country apart. And they wanted it back in the states, and I did something that nobody thought was possible. Individual state is voting. It's the vote of the people now. It's not tied up in the federal government. I did a great service in doing it. It took courage to do it. And the Supreme Court had great courage in doing it. 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