Anti-abortion leaders undeterred as Trump for the first time says he'd veto a federal abortion ban

CHICAGO (AP) — Anti-abortion leaders said Wednesday that they're undeterred after Donald Trump said he would veto a federal abortion ban, the first time he has explicitly said so after previously refusing to answer questions on the subject.

During Tuesday night's vice presidential debate, the Republican presidential nominee posted on his social media platform Truth Social that “everyone knows I would not support a federal abortion ban, under any circumstances, and would, in fact, veto it.”

He then said that abortion rights should be left up to the states — his most common response to questions about the issue since Roe v. Wade was overturned by a conservative majority that included three of Trump's own appointees to the Supreme Court. In the two years since the ruling, abortion rights have emerged as a major vulnerability for the GOP, which has struggled to find a consistent message on the path forward, while driving turnout for Democrats.

With the election less than five weeks away, Trump has been trying to thread a divide between his own base of anti-abortion supporters and the majority of Americans who support abortion rights. The former president is trying to make up ground with women — a group that views Democratic nominee Kamala Harris more favorably nationally — in the handful of battleground states that will likely determine the winner.