Abortion bans without exceptions in the cases of rape or incest and to protect the health of the mother are wrong, and there are Republicans who "speak very inarticulately" about the issue, former President Donald Trump said in an interview Sunday.
"I think people should have exceptions," Trump told new NBC "Meet the Press" moderator Kristen Welker. "I think if it’s rape or incest or the life of the mother, I think you have to have exceptions. It’s very important."
Many candidates are calling for abortion bans without exceptions, but in "other than certain parts of the country, you can’t — you’re not going to win on this issue. But you will win on this issue when you come up with the right number of weeks."
Trump did not clarify what legislation he would sign to ban abortions being performed after a certain number of weeks or if he prefers a federal solution to the issue rather than a state-by-state determination, but he said he can unite "both sides" on the controversial matter.
"We’re going to agree to a number of weeks or months or however you want to define it, and both sides are going to come together and both sides — both sides, and this is a big statement — both sides will come together," said Trump. "For the first time in 52 years, you’ll have an issue that we can put behind us."
That solution "could be state or it could be federal," Trump also said. "I don’t frankly care.”
"It could be a state ban, it could be a federal ban, but Democrats want that too," he further commented. "Democrats don’t want to see abortion in the seventh month, OK? I speak to a lot of Democrats. They want a number. There is a number, and there’s a number that’s going to be agreed to."
Trump also told Welker that he's "almost like a mediator in this case."
"They wanted Roe v. Wade terminated because it was inappropriate," he said. "We got it done. Something is going to happen. It’s going to be a number of weeks.
"Something is going to happen where both sides are going to be able to come together. And then we’ll be able to go onto other things, like, the economy, our military."