'This is reprehensible': Biden rips Trump's abortion comments from Time interview

WASHINGTON ― President Joe Biden and his reelection campaign pounced on comments made by Donald Trump about abortion in a wide-ranging interview published by Time magazine, arguing the remarks show he wouldn't stop a national abortion ban in a second presidency.

Trump, the former president and presumptive Republican nominee, would not commit to vetoing federal restrictions on abortion if legislation is brought to his desk. He would not say whether women should have access to abortion pills. And Trump said he would not stop states with abortion bans from punishing women who access the procedure.

"This is reprehensible. Donald Trump doesn’t trust women. I do," Biden said Tuesday in a statement on X, formerly Twitter.

Ahead of the 2024 election, the Biden campaign has worked aggressively to remind voters that Trump's three Supreme Court appointments were instrumental in the 2022 Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization ruling that overturned a constitutional right to an abortion. Trump has said he supports abortion laws being decided on a state-by-state basis, not nationally.

"I don't have to be comfortable or uncomfortable. The states are going to make that decision," Trump said when asked about states with abortion bans punishing women. "The states are going to have to be comfortable or uncomfortable, not me."

In his statement, Biden singled out Trump's response in the Time interview when asked whether states with abortion bans should monitor women's pregnancies.

Trump told Time: "I think they might do that. Again, you'll have to speak to the individual states."

Trump would not directly say whether he would commit to vetoing federal abortion restrictions, arguing instead that national abortion legislation would never pass the evenly divided Senate.

"I won't have to commit to it because it’ll never ? number one, it’ll never happen," Trump said. "Number two, it’s about states’ rights. You don't want to go back into the federal government. This was all about getting out of the federal government."

Trump would not say whether he would veto the Republican-backed Life of Conception Act, which would grant full legal rights to embryos

"I don't have to do anything about vetoes, because we now have it back in the states," Trump said.

Trump declined to say how he plans to vote in a November referendum in his home state of Florida on protecting a right to abortion. Trump also would not say whether women should be able to get the abortion pill mifepristone, an issue the Supreme Court will rule on soon.

"I have an opinion on that, but I'm not going to explain. I'm not gonna say it yet. But I have pretty strong views on that. And I'll be releasing it probably over the next week," Trump said.

Biden campaign manager Julie Chávez Rodriguez said in a statement that Trump's comments "leave little doubt: if elected he’ll sign a national abortion ban, allow women who have an abortion to be prosecuted and punished, allow the government to invade women’s privacy to monitor their pregnancies, and put IVF and contraception in jeopardy nationwide."

The Biden campaign has sought to make restoring abortion rights a defining issue in the 2024 campaign. Abortion has been a winner for Democrats in several state referendums since Roe's collapse and is widely credited with energizing Democrats in the 2022 midterms to help the party exceed expectations.

Reach Joey Garrison on X, formerly, Twitter @joeygarrison.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Biden campaign rips Trump's abortion comments made in Time interview