Editor’s note: This article has been updated to clarify that Trump is up to 13 points behind Harris specifically among women voters.
Late on Friday night, former President Donald Trump hammered out a 181-word post on his Truth Social platform in his signature all-caps style, targeted at “DEPRESSED AND UNHAPPY” women who are “THINKING ABOUT ABORTION.”
The 45th president of the United States — who is behind Vice President Kamala Harris by as much as 13 percentage points among women according to an August poll by Reuters/Ipsos — insisted that he was the better candidate for women in the lengthy post. He specifically argued that four years ago, when the country was fully in the grip of the Covid-19 pandemic and the global economy was in tatters, women were better off.
“WOMEN ARE POORER THAN THEY WERE FOUR YEARS AGO, ARE LESS HEALTHY THAN THEY WERE FOUR YEARS AGO, ARE LESS SAFE ON THE STREETS THAN THEY WERE FOUR YEARS AGO, ARE MORE DEPRESSED AND UNHAPPY THAN THEY WERE FOUR YEARS AGO, AND ARE LESS OPTIMISTIC AND CONFIDENT IN THE FUTURE THAN THEY WERE FOUR YEARS AGO,” the former president wrote. “I WILL FIX ALL OF THAT, AND FAST, AND AT LONG LAST THIS NATIONAL NIGHTMARE WILL BE OVER. WOMEN WILL BE HAPPY, HEALTHY, CONFIDENT AND FREE!”
READ MORE: Trump’s Truth Social stake down by $6.5 billion — on day he’s allowed to start selling
Trump then insisted that women would no longer be preoccupied with abortion, arguing that the overturning of Roe v. Wade (assisted by three Supreme Court justices he appointed) made reproductive freedom a states’ rights issue. However, he did notably double down on abortion restrictions in the third trimester — which account for less than 1% of all abortions nationwide — and repeat the baseless lie that Democrats are executing babies after birth.
” I WILL PROTECT WOMEN AT A LEVEL NEVER SEEN BEFORE. THEY WILL FINALLY BE HEALTHY, HOPEFUL, SAFE, AND SECURE,” he continued. “THEIR LIVES WILL BE HAPPY, BEAUTIFUL, AND GREAT AGAIN!”
The ex-president’s Friday night rant was posted as his opponent hosted rallies in the battleground states of Georgia and Wisconsin focused on abortion rights. During her Georgia event, the vice president spoke about the death of a pregnant woman who died of sepsis after more than 20 hours of doctors refusing to treat her for an infection. Because abortion is outlawed in Georgia, any physician who performs the procedure could face a lifelong prison sentence. Harris argued abortion bans have a chilling effect on doctors who are afraid to do anything to help pregnant patients out of fear of being prosecuted.
“One in three women in America lives in a state with a Trump abortion ban,” Harris said at the Atlanta rally. “This includes Georgia and every state in the south except Virginia.”
READ MORE: Debate could make Trump’s ‘double-digit’ deficit with women even worse — here’s why
“Think about that when you also combine that with what we know has been long standing neglect around an issue like maternal mortality,” she added. “Think about that when you compound that with what has been long standing neglect of women in communities with a lack of the adequate resources they need for health care: prenatal, during their pregnancy, postpartum.”
While Trump argued that the question of abortion is now “WITH THE STATES, AND A VOTE OF THE PEOPLE,” it’s worth noting that since Roe’s fall in 2022, every single state has voted in favor of abortion rights when it came up on the ballot. This includes deep-red states like Kansas, Kentucky and Montana in 2022, and Ohio in 2023. Voters will be deciding the issue this November in Trump’s newly adopted home state of Florida.
Click here to read Trump’s full Truth Social post.
READ MORE: ‘Where you been?’ Harris rips GOP ‘hypocrites’ on abortion in fiery speech
