US: Melania Trump reveals she will strongly defend a woman’s right to abortion in her upcoming memoir

US: Experts told Newsweek that the disclosure of Melania Trump’s strong advocacy of a woman’s right to an abortion in her forthcoming biography might either harm—or perhaps help—her husband, former President Donald Trump, ahead of November’s presidential contest.

“It is imperative to guarantee that women have autonomy in deciding their preference of having children, based on their own convictions, free from any intervention or pressure from the government,” the spouse of the Republican nominee writes in her book, titled Melania, The Guardian reported on Wednesday.

“Why should anyone else than the woman herself have the power to decide what she does with her own body?” According to the British daily, which got a copy of the book before its October 8 release, Melanie also adds.

“Restricting a woman’s right to chose whether to terminate an unwanted pregnancy is the same as denying her control over her own body.”

The former first lady has been conspicuously missing from the campaign trail as her husband aims to return for a second term in the White House and has not expressed her political opinions in public.

But only weeks before the November 5 vote, the disclosure that Melanie’s opinions on abortion seem to diverge greatly from her husband’s.

Based on polls, tiny numbers of voters in crucial swing states might determine whether Trump or the Democratic vice president Kamala Harris wins close-by. With half of Americans saying that abortion is extremely important to their vote—including more than a third of Republicans—abortion remains a top issue, according to a Pew Research Center poll last month.

Harris has centered her campaign on safeguarding abortion rights and said that a second Trump administration may endanger reproductive rights all around.

“Sadly for the women across America, Mrs. Trump’s husband firmly disagrees with her and is the reason that more than one in three American women live under a Trump abortion ban that threatens their health, their freedom, their life,” Harris campaign spokesperson Sarafina Chitika emailed Newsweek.

“Donald Trump has made it abundantly clear: should he win in November, he will ban abortion nationally, punish women, and restrict women’s access to reproductive health care,” Chitika said.

Anti-abortion campaigners and religious conservatives, meanwhile, have been more unhappy with Trump. as the Supreme Court reversed Roe v. Wade, he has tried to portray himself as more moderate on abortion among the indignation as he took responsibility for selecting judges who voted in 2022 to revoke the countrywide right to abortion.

Since then, 13 states have outlawed abortion in practically all instances; 22 prohibit or limit the operation sooner than the threshold established in Roe v. Wade, which permitted abortion until fetal viability, commonly recognized as 23 or 24 weeks.

Trump has stated that Republicans trying to convince important groups—including suburban women—to adopt hardline attitudes on abortion might find themselves in political hot water.

Every time the topic has been put on the ballot since Roe v. Wade was reversed, people have backed with proponents of abortion rights; so, initiatives to safeguard access to abortion will go before voters in ten states in November, including in battlefields Arizona and Nevada.

After continuously denying to do so during a debate against Harris last month, Trump said this week he would veto a nationwide abortion ban for the first time. He has supported exceptions in circumstances of rape, incest, and to save the life of the mother and often claimed that abortion legislation should be left to the states.

Live Action’s founder, Lila Rose, stated in August that Trump’s posture meant he was “losing pro-life votes” and that it was inappropriate for his supporters “to demand that pro-life activists be endlessly loyal to Trump in response to repeated betrayal.”

Following Melanie’s defence of abortion rights in her book, Students for Life of America’s president, Kristan Hawkins, said it was “hard to follow the logic” of publishing the book before the election and “undercutting President Trump’s message to pro-life voters.”

“A significant development that could have complicated ramifications for Donald Trump’s campaign,” Florida Atlantic University’s political marketing professor Craig Agranoff told Newsweek, Melanie Trump’s stance of abortion rights.

“It generates direct conflict with Trump’s well-established position on abortion, which has been somewhat consistent with the pro-life movement. In an election when his capacity to galvanize his base is crucial, any deviation—especially from someone as close as his wife—may seem as unity, which would worry strong anti-abortion supporters.””

Agranoff said the timing of the book “adds a dimension of uncertainty,” adding that it may “offer ammo for Trump’s opponent, who might use Melania’s attitude to question his genuineness or constancy on this topic. For those seeking justification for mistrust of his promises, this might be a trigger.”

According to Agranoff, it may be a “October surprise”—an unanticipated turn in the last few weeks of a presidential campaign that might affect the result.

“But whether it’s a help or a hindrance depends on how the campaign manages to frame the conversation in the next weeks,” Agranoff said. “A consistent message from the campaign will be crucial to guarantee that this revelation doesn’t eclipse Trump’s attempts to shore up his base.”

Professor of political science and communication Diana Mutz of the University of Pennsylvania said that Trump’s “strong anti-abortion posture is a political liability for him in the U.S. thus the move could be strategic.”Even if they are dissatisfied with it, “anti-abortion voters have nowhere to go,” Mutz told Newsweek.

Agranoff agreed Trump could find it helpful. “Given that Trump is struggling with some moderate or swing voters, Melanie’s more progressive posture could soften his image in their eyes,” he added.

Depending on how the campaign spins it, “it might show him as more ideologically flexible or independent-minded. Women who could be on the fence about supporting him but feel alienated by more radical attitudes on reproductive rights might find attraction in this as suburban voters do.

Syracuse University in New York’s political science professor Grant Davis Reeher said he thinks it will probably benefit more than damage Trump’s campaign suffers.

“Have struggled to overcome the Democratic narrative that they want a national ban on abortion,” Reeher told Newsweek Trump and his running buddy, Ohio Senator JD Vance.

“Trump and Vance have maintained that the topic is best left to the states, where some will adopt restrictions and others, like New York, would expand the right to an abortion beyond that given by Roe v. Wade; neither Trump nor Vance desire a nationwide ban. Given that Melania Trump resides in a state with robust abortion rights, her opinions might help to support that stance.

But political science expert Costas Panagopoulos of Northeastern University in Boston said that Melanie Trump’s opinions are not likely to have any influence at all.

“I expect this revelation will have a negligible effect on the dynamics of the race,” he said Newsweek.

Panagopoulos also said that first women have a tradition of standing opposite their husbands. “Laura Bush supported same-sex marriage and abortion rights; her husband held opposite views on the issues as president; it didn’t seem to matter much,” he remarked.

“After all, Melanie Trump is not on the ballot and she would not be the president should Republicans prevail in November,” Panagopoulos added.