Donald Trump weighs in on controversial Florida abortion ballot measure

In his role atop the Republican Party in a pivotal election year, former President Donald Trump has had to grapple with achieving a delicate balance on the issue of abortion.

As evidence of the difficult road he has had to navigate, Trump was forced to offer insight into how he planned to vote with regard to a ballot proposal in his home state of Florida that would allow essentially unfettered access to the procedure, as Fox News reports.

Florida measure sparks controversy

At issue is Florida's “Amendment 4,” designed to enshrine into the state constitution a right to abortion.

The language of the ballot initiative reads, “No law shall prohibit, penalize, delay, or restrict abortion before viability or when necessary to protect the patient's health, as determined by the patient's healthcare provider.”

The amendment would have the effect of repealing the state's current six-week abortion ban, which stands as one of the strictest in the nation.

Under fire from both sides of the aisle to weigh in on the measure, Trump indicated this week that he would be voting against the measure, which he deemed “radical.”

Trump explained that while he believes the six-week threshold currently in place is too stringent, the measure on which voters will decide is simply too extreme.

“You need more than six weeks. I've disagreed with that right from the early primaries. When I heard about it, I disagreed with it. At the same time, the Democrats are radical because the nine months is just a ridiculous situation,” he said.

Careful balancing act

Trump, to the chagrin of many of his conservative supporters, has taken a more pragmatic approach to abortion than his critics on the left want to admit.

“I will say this: You have to win elections,” noting that he believes abortion is a very personal matter on which individuals must listen to their hearts and reiterating on the campaign trail that the reversal of Roe v. Wade rightly sent the issue back to the states for citizens to determine the thresholds they prefer.

In the wake of his recent statement about Florida's measure, some on the right expressed disapproval, prompting the campaign to argue that Trump did not declare a definitive position on how he will vote, but rather reaffirmed his stance that six-weeks is too short in terms of a ban.

Unsurprisingly, the Kamala Harris campaign swooped into the fray to declare, “Donald Trump just made his position on abortion very clear: He will vote to uphold an abortion ban so extreme it applies before many women even know they are pregnant,” but just how large a role the issue will play in the November election remains very much an open question.