Opinion: Melania Trump says she supports abortion rights. Don't forget what her husband did.

This column was updated to add new information

We’re four weeks away from the presidential election, and Donald Trump is trying to make the nation forget that he is the one responsible for the fall of Roe v. Wade and the health care aftermath it has created for women.

The former president took to social media during last week's vice presidential debate to say that if a national abortion ban came through Congress, he would “VETO IT, BECAUSE IT IS UP TO THE STATES TO DECIDE.”

It doesn’t matter that he’s the one who appointed the Supreme Court justices who handed down the Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization decision or that Trump has bragged about doing just that. He will say whatever he needs to convince you he deserves your vote. He's a liar. In reality, so many women are worse off because of him.

In the United States, 1 in 3 women now live in a state that bans abortion after six weeks of pregnancy. That is before many women know that they are pregnant, and a far cry from the access we had under Roe. Women have lost their lives because of six-week bans and the medical care confusion it has caused, and that is unacceptable.

Just look at what happened in Texas, where a law banning most abortions went into effect in 2021. From 2019 to 2022, the rate of maternal mortality cases there rose 56% compared with just 11% nationwide, according to an analysis by the Gender Equity Policy Institute.

A Georgia woman's death that could have been prevented

It's not just Texas. In Georgia last week, Fulton County Superior Court Judge Robert McBurney overturned the state’s six-week ban, saying it infringed on women’s liberty.

“Women are not some piece of collectively owned community property the disposition of which is decided by majority vote,” McBurney wrote.

On Monday, the Georgia Supreme Court temporarily reinstated the ban. It's a reminder of how fragile abortion rights are in some states, and how Trump's Supreme Court appointments led to this.

The rulings came after ProPublica reported on the deaths of two women in 2022 due to fears and confusion caused by Georgia's abortion ban.

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Amber Nicole Thurman, 28, died after suffering from sepsis for 20 hours because doctors failed to act quickly. Candi Miller, 41, did not seek medical care after having complications from a medication abortion and died after days of suffering.

There are those now living under the conditions that led to these women's deaths. After Roe fell in 2022, the number of women who sought abortions without medical assistance nearly doubled last year. Online prescriptions for abortion medications more than doubled.

While medicinal abortion is safe, if there are complications, abortion bans could be scaring or delaying women and medical professionals from taking lifesaving measures.

Abortion remains one of the major issues of this election

Abortion has remained a top issue of this election cycle. It came up during the vice presidential debate between Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz and Sen. JD Vance, R-Ohio.

In a poignant moment, Walz named two women directly affected by the fight for abortion access: Amanda Zurawski, who nearly died after being turned away from a Texas hospital, and Hadley Duvall, who was 12 years old when she was impregnated by her stepfather. Walz then brought up Thurman.

“There’s a very real chance, had Amber Thurman lived in Minnesota, she would be alive today,” Walz said.

Vance, in turn, tried to soften his stance on abortion, saying that the Republican Party needs “to do so much better of a job at earning the American People's trust back on this issue.”

He instead disguised his language, referring to his previous support of a 15-week ban as a “minimum national standard.” Don’t be fooled: That’s still an abortion ban.

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How does the party that supported losing those rights expect to earn the trust of the people who lost them? They can't.

Melania Trump reportedly supports abortion rights

Abortion rights recently reportedly got an unlikely supporter: Melania Trump. The former first lady made her stance on the issue known last week in a video where she said there is "no room for compromise." She also talks about the topic in her new memoir.

“Why should anyone other than the woman herself have the power to determine what she does with her own body?” she writes. “A woman’s fundamental right of individual liberty, to her own life, grants her the authority to terminate her pregnancy if she wishes.”

While it’s good that Melania Trump is speaking out against the Republican Party, it doesn’t change the fact that her husband’s Supreme Court justices overturned Roe. It does show how important the issue is for all women, including those with ties to the GOP.

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There are 10 states with abortion on the ballot this year, and there are voters across the country who don’t believe Trump and Vance when they say they care about women. These voters are going to determine whether we are able to codify Roe or put us at risk of a national abortion ban. Hopefully, they show up like they have previously, and ensure a better future for all of us.

Vote while keeping in mind the 21.5 million women and girls of reproductive age living under abortion bans. And to those Americans, I hope we are able to restore your rights sooner rather than later.

Follow USA TODAY elections columnist Sara Peque?o on X, formerly Twitter, @sara__pequeno

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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Opinion: Trump softens his abortion stance. Don't let it fool you