Trump says he is open to restrictions on contraception. His campaign says he misspoke

Former President Donald Trump on Tuesday said he was open to supporting regulations on contraception and that his campaign would release a policy on the issue “very shortly.”

The comments, made during an interview with a Pittsburgh television station, suggested that a future Trump administration might consider imposing mandates or supporting state restrictions on such highly personal decisions as whether women can have access to birth control.

During an interview with KDKA News, Trump was asked, “Do you support any restrictions on a person’s right to contraception?”

“We’re looking at that and I’m going to have a policy on that very shortly,” Trump responded, according to a video of the interview that was briefly posted online before it was supposed to air, then taken down.

The likely Republican presidential nominee was pressed in a follow-up question if that meant he may want to support some restrictions on contraception.

“Things really do have a lot to do with the states, and some states are going to have different policy than others,” Trump responded, before repeating that he would be releasing “a very comprehensive policy” on the issue.

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A Trump campaign official told The Associated Press that the former president would make an announcement regarding medication abortion, not contraception. He previously said he would release a policy about use of the abortion pills in a Time magazine interview published three weeks ago. This is the first time Trump has indicated he would have a policy on contraception since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned a national right to abortion two years ago, touching off political battles about aspects about reproductive rights, including contraception and in vitro fertilization.

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The campaign official said Trump would make an announcement regarding the abortion pill mifepristone “in the near future” and added that he has “never advocated for restrictions on contraceptives.” The video of the interview shows Trump was asked about contraception, not about medication abortion or mifepristone.

The Biden campaign seized on the interview, accusing Trump of supporting “bans on contraception, including the morning after pill.”

“Women across the country are already suffering from Donald Trump’s post-Roe nightmare, and if he wins a second term, it’s clear he wants to go even further by restricting access to birth control and emergency contraceptives,” Biden-Harris spokesperson Sarafina Chitika said in a statement.

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Associated Press writers Jill Colvin and Michelle L. Price in New York contributed to this report.

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