Updated September 27, 2024

Where do the 2024 presidential candidates fall on abortion?

While abortion has always been contentious in the United States, the overturning of Roe v. Wade has galvanized movements on both sides of the argument for expanding or restricting access to abortion services. Coming up in courts, ballot measures, legislatures, and elsewhere, the subject of abortion has been debated at all different policy levels.

Democrats used the ruling to push for greater access to abortions during the 2022 midterm elections. Now, they have used that momentum in their campaigns for the 2024 Presidential Election. Republicans have mainly called for tighter restrictions on abortion, but Republican candidates hold different views on the potential for a national abortion ban. Many have questioned Congress’ ability to find enough votes to pass federal restrictions. Democrats narrowly control the Senate with 51 seats (plus the vice president’s tie-breaking vote). However, with the filibuster, any bill would need 60 votes to invoke cloture.

Some candidates have also proposed alternative policies to regulate abortion, such as simplifying the adoption process or providing increased access to contraception.

In terms of the public’s opinion on abortion, 61% of Americans said abortion should be legal in all or most cases, and 37% said it should be illegal in all or most cases. Also, 86% of Republicans, 95% of Democrats, and 93% of Independents supported abortion when a mother's life is endangered.

Jump to view:

• Democratic Candidate
• Republican Candidate
• Independent Candidate
• Libertarian Candidate
• Green Candidate

Democratic Candidate

Kamala Harris: Supports passing abortion protections at the federal level.

Vice President Kamala Harris has stressed immense support for federally legalized abortions throughout her presidential campaign. In September, she called for a removal of the filibuster, in order to push legislation debate past the Senate. 

Harris said, during the presidential debate in September, that she would “proudly sign” a bill to reinstate Roe v. Wade, if elected. During the debate, she claimed former President Donald Trump would sign a national abortion ban, if elected, and that there would be a “monitor” of pregnancies and miscarriages. The Harris campaign stated that the overturning of Roe v. Wade causes “devastating” consequences. 

The vice president called a lack of exceptions in pro-life laws “immoral,” specifying mothers’ lives as being harmed through doctors’ fears, though there are no laws that prevent care for pregnant women. 

RELATED: Did Georgia’s Abortion Law Lead to Two Women’s Deaths? | AllSides

Harris has not expressed any support for abortion restrictions on viable or ninth-month pregnancies. 

Republican Candidate

Donald Trump: Supports state-by-state abortion legislatation and has signaled support for a federal 15-week abortion ban.

During the final debate of the 2016 presidential election, former President Donald Trump nominated Supreme Court justices Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett, who constituted three of the five votes to overturn Roe v. Wade. 

Trump took credit for overturning the case, as he said: “After 50 years of failure, with nobody coming even close, I was able to kill Roe v. Wade.”

He has repeatedly referenced this in his 2024 campaign. During a campaign rally, he said, “I did something that for 52 years people talked, they spent vast amounts of money fighting it, but they couldn’t get the job done.”

During his presidency, Trump also signed a resolution allowing states to withhold federal funding for abortion providers and issued a proposal to modify Title X, barring healthcare providers that refer patients for abortions from federal funding. 

Trump reinstated the Mexico City Policy in 2017, which stated that nongovernmental organizations could not offer or support abortion procedures in other countries in order to receive federal funding. The Trump administration cut funding for the United Nations Population Fund, the UN’s family planning and maternal health agency, because it said UNFPA funded a Chinese government family planning program that forced citizens to get sterilizations and abortions. The UN disputed this claim. 

Trump introduced an expanded “conscience rule” in 2019. The rule allowed health care workers to refuse care to patients for procedures including abortion, sterilization and assisted suicide if the procedures contradicted the providers’ religious or moral beliefs. 

Trump repeatedly called on Congress to ban “late-term abortion.” 

In 2020, Trump became the first president to attend the Annual March for Life, telling the crowd, “unborn children have never had a stronger defender in the White House.”

After leaving the White House, Trump said he would work with Democrats and Republicans to compromise on the number of weeks into pregnancies that abortion should be legal and determine whether policies on abortion should be passed by states or the federal government. During a radio interview, he said: "maybe we could bring the country together on that issue. … The number of weeks now, people are agreeing on 15. And I’m thinking in terms of that…even hardliners are agreeing."

He criticized a bill that Florida Governor Ron Desantis (R) signed into law that banned abortion after six weeks of pregnancy, stating, “I think what he did is a terrible thing and a terrible mistake.” 

Trump said he thinks it is likely better to allow states to pass abortion policies than to pass federal policy but said, “I can live with it either way. … It could be state or it could be federal. I don’t frankly care.”

In April, Trump said overturning Roe v. Wade “wasn't about abortion so much as bringing it back to the states” When a reporter asked Trump if he would sign a federal bill banning abortion after 15 weeks, Trump said: "I don't think there would be any reason for it because all the states are going to have their own [bills]." 

Trump said he has “never, and will never advocate imposing restrictions on birth control, or other contraceptives” in a post on Truth Social.

Trump has also expressed support for exceptions to abortion bans in cases of rape, incest, and when the mother’s life is at risk.

Independent Candidate 

Cornel West: Protect access to abortion on the federal level.

“Protecting the reproductive rights of women and ending all forms of patriarchy.”

In addition to supporting the federal protection of abortion, he believes that child poverty should take precedence over talks on abortion: “If they're committed to the well-being of the child, you would think they would be on the cutting edge of eliminating child poverty.”

Libertarian Candidate

Chase Oliver: End abortion restrictions before viability. No federal funding for abortions. 

Chase Oliver’s campaign website states “your body is your body” and “we must end… abortion restrictions before viability…”

In a tweet on April 10, 2024, Oliver states: “I support medical and bodily autonomy from the state. I am pro choice on nearly every issue. So it should be no surprise that I oppose the recent Arizona Supreme Court ruling that puts women's healthcare back to the 19th century.”

Oliver goes on to say, “I oppose federal funds for abortions. I support the right to choose until the point of viability with rare exceptions for the life of the mother. I support IVF and surrogacy to help people have children. I support expanding adoption and making birth control OTC, which in turn will lead to fewer abortions. I support individuals who make the decision for themselves not to have an abortion. And I support keeping the government out of the decision. This is where most Americans are on the issue. It's where I'll stand on the issue."

Green Candidate

Jill Stein: Codify Roe v Wade. Repeal the Hyde Amendment. Fund free birth control.

The Green Party seeks to protect and expand access to abortion services. After the Arizona Supreme Court ruling on abortion in April, 2024, Stein tweeted, “I practiced internal medicine for 25 years, and remember the days before Roe – watching friends endure the horrors of back alley abortions. Since the Dobbs decision, maternal mortality has shot up at least 24%, and 40% among Black mothers. I am furious with right wing state legislatures that push radical abortion bans, and decades of empty rhetoric from Democrats. Access to safe abortion is a non-negotiable human right. When I am president, it will be.”

This blog was originally written by Harry Ding, Content Intern (Center bias). It was reviewed and edited by Malayna J. Bizier, News Analyst & Social Media Editor (Right bias) and Kai Lincke, Content Intern (Lean Left bias). It was updated by Kai Lincke, Malayna J. Bizier and Krystal Woodworth (Center bias).