The Washington Post reports:

Donald Trump suggested in a news conference Thursday that he is open to curbing access to abortion pills through federal regulations, declining to rule out a sweeping move that some antiabortion allies have advocated.

Trump has previously praised a Supreme Court ruling that maintained access to the key abortion drug mifepristone, saying, “I agree with their decision to have done that, and I will not block it.” But the GOP presidential nominee muddled his position at Thursday’s news conference at his Mar-a-Lago Club.

A reporter noted that there are ways the federal government could restrict abortion besides a national ban and asked if Trump would direct his Food and Drug Administration to “revoke access” to mifepristone. Trump did not reject the idea.

“Sure, you could, you could do things that will be, would, would supplement,” the GOP presidential nominee said. “Absolutely. … But you have to be able to have a vote, and all I want to do is give everybody a vote.” (Trump has defended his appointments of Supreme Court justices who overturned Roe v. Wade by saying that the decision allowed states and voters to weigh in on the issue.)

Mifepristone is part of a two-drug regimen to end a pregnancy through the first 10 weeks of gestation. Most abortions in the United States are now carried out via medication, and curbing access to mifepristone would be hugely consequential.

Trump’s comments on Thursday could undercut his efforts to distance himself from the hardest-line abortion opponents in his party. He previously rebuffed activists’ pressure to campaign on a national restriction, framing it as a states’ issue, and supported a new GOP platform that angered some antiabortion activists. Trump’s campaign did not immediately respond to a request to clarify his position on mifepristone. Vice President Kamala Harris’s campaign has made abortion access a central campaign issue and immediately highlighted Trump’s Thursday comments. [Continue reading…]