Former President Donald Trump told women at a Pennslyvania rally on Monday evening that he would “protect” them and claimed that American women won’t be “thinking about abortion” if he’s elected.
Abortion is a key issue in November’s election, two years after the Supreme Court struck down Roe v. Wade and ended the right to abortion for millions of women in the United States.
In a recent YouGov poll, 56 percent of respondents said they trust Vice President Kamala Harris on the issue of abortion, compared to 44 percent of those polled who said they trust Trump.
Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump dances after speaking at a campaign event at the Indiana University of Pennsylvania Ed Fry Arena, Monday, Sept. 23, 2024.
Alex Brandon/AP
“I always thought women liked me. I never thought I had a problem. But the fake news keeps saying women don’t like me,” Trump said in Indiana, Pennsylvania. “I don’t believe it.”
The Republican presidential nominee said women are “less safe,” “much poorer,” and “less healthy” now compared to his presidency and promised to end what he described as their “national nightmare.”
“Because I am your protector. I want to be your protector. As president, I have to be your protector. I hope you don’t make too much of it. I hope the fake news doesn’t go, ‘Oh, he wants to be their protector.’ Well, I am. As president, I have to be your protector,” Trump said.
Trump claimed women “will be happy, healthy, confident, and free. You will no longer be thinking about abortion.”
Trump’s remarks come as polls show him struggling with female voters. A recent poll has Harris leading Trump by 5 percentage points among women in Pennsylvania, a key battleground state.
Left: Democratic presidential nominee, U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris, speaks during an event at the Cobb Energy Performing Arts Centre on September 20, 2024, in Atlanta, Georgia. Right: Republican presidential nominee former U.S. President Donald Trump speaks at the Israeli American Council National Summit at the Washington Hilton on September 19, 2024 in Washington, DC.
Joe Raedle/Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images
Harris has made abortion rights a central focus of her campaign, pledging to restore nationwide protections if elected.
A New York Times/Siena College poll conducted after the debate between Harris and Trump found Harris leading Trump 53 percent to 42 percent among women.
In the same poll, it showed Trump leading with 56 percent support to 39 percent among men.
Among younger voters, the gender gap is even wider. A new Harvard survey of 18-29 year-old likely voters found that gap turning into more of a chasm, with Harris opening up a 30-point lead among young women.
Trump has been criticized for his role in dismantling those rights as he took credit for the Supreme Court’s 2022 overturning of Roe v. Wade.
A marcher holds a sign during the Women’s March on Washington the day after the inauguration of Donald Trump in Washington, DC.
Cal Sport Media/AP
The former president appointed three conservative justices to the Supreme Court, which ultimately led to to the overturning of Roe.
Despite taking credit for overturning Roe, the 1973 landmark decision that gave Americans a constitutional right to abortion, Trump has been more moderate on the issue than many of his Republican colleagues.
In April, he declined to support a national ban on abortion, and he has repeatedly stated that he supports abortion rights being decided at the state level. He has also supported exceptions for cases of rape and incest.
Despite his claims of being a defender of women, he faces ongoing criticism over past legal issues concerning sexual abuse accusations.
E. Jean Carroll arrives at Manhattan federal court in New York as her defamation suit against Donald Trump continued on January 26, 2024 in New York City. She was awarded $83.3 million in her second defamation case against Trump.
Spencer Platt/Getty Images
In May 2023, a jury found Trump liable for sexually abusing and defaming E. Jean Carroll, awarding her $5 million in damages. In a separate January 2024 case, Trump was ordered to pay Carroll an additional $83.3 million for further defamatory statements made about the initial trial.
Carroll, a former Elle magazine writer, alleged that Trump sexually assaulted her in a New York City department store in the 1990s and later defamed her in 2022 by denying the incident, stating she wasn’t his “type.”
The jury accepted Carroll’s testimony that Trump sexually assaulted her in a department store dressing room in the mid-1990s and then defamed her in comments when she filed a case against him.
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