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 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 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
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’ 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. Harris has repeatedly called out the Republican candidate for his role in the Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization 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, the Republican candidate falsely claimed 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 on the issue, saying he “never supported a national ban” for abortion—while in the past he said that 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 in 10 different states during the general election on Nov. 5.
