Where do the Republican presidential candidates stand on abortion?

DES MOINES — The issue of abortion has become one of the most thorny discussions in the Republican presidential primary, as candidates have attempted to outline policies that are important to a segment of their base but unpopular with the general public.

Candidates have taken a wide array of approaches, from seeking national abortion bans to leaving the decision to the states to seeking consensus on related issues.

Here's what the Republicans running for president have to say about their abortion proposals.

Donald Trump

Former President Donald Trump’s appointments to the U.S. Supreme Court were instrumental in the 2022 decision that overturned Roe v. Wade and the decadeslong right to an abortion.

Trump touts that record when appealing to anti-abortion voters. At a Fox News town hall this week, he told a voter “you wouldn’t be asking that question” about his abortion stance if he had not appointed the conservative justices that ended the federal protections.

Still, Trump has been critical of harsh abortion restrictions and has not publicly committed to a national abortion ban.

He said six-week abortion bans, like the one Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signed last year, are too harsh and will lead to Republicans losing elections.

“We’re going to come up with something that people want and people like,” he said at a Fox News Town Hall this week. “You have to go with your heart … but you do also have to win elections.”

Trump has said he would work with abortion rights supporters and anti-abortion advocates on a compromise at the national level that he said would satisfy all parties.

“We're living in a time when there has to be a little bit of concession one way the other,” he said. “And I want to get it right; I have to get it right. But without what I did, you would never even be asking that question.”

Ron DeSantis

Last year, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signed into law a strict six-week abortion ban in Florida, similar to the one signed in Iowa by Gov. Kim Reynolds, who has endorsed DeSantis for president.

DeSantis often says abortion issues should be largely left up to the states, but that he would advocate for states that enact strict abortion restrictions.

“I understand that some of these states are doing it a little bit different,” he said in a November debate. “Texas is not going to do it the same as New Hampshire. Iowa’s not necessarily going to do it the same as Virginia. So you got to work from the bottom up.”

DeSantis has previously said he would sign a 15-week abortion ban into law if it was passed at the national level. He also said Republicans should work harder to grow support for abortion restrictions among voters.

“What happens at the national level is a reflection of what is happening on the ground with the electorate,” he said on “Iowa Press” in December. “And when you see things like what has happened in Ohio that tells you, OK, what are we doing to not deliver the message about the importance and the dignity of human life? So, I will be a part of that 100 percent. I think we can move the needle.”

Nikki Haley

Former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley calls herself “unapologetically pro-life,” but she has called for finding common ground on the abortion issue at the national level and says a federal ban is unlikely.

She said federal lawmakers should look to policies that she thinks can develop a consensus, including banning “late-term” abortions, encouraging adoption, making contraception more accessible and giving doctors the right to opt out of performing abortions.

“We have to stop demonizing that issue and humanize that issue,” she said at the Iowa State Fair last year. “It is personal to every woman and every man, and it deserves the respect of the heaviness of that issue.”

While she has noted it is unlikely, Haley has said at other times she would sign a national abortion ban as president if it came to her desk.

She has been supportive of early-term state abortion bans, like the one in Iowa, and said she would sign a six-week abortion ban if she were still governor of South Carolina.

“I think the right thing was to have the states decide,” she said in an interview. “Some states are going more pro-life, I welcome that. Some states are going more on the choice side. I wish that wasn't the case, but the people decided.”

Vivek Ramaswamy

Ohio biotech entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy generally says the issue of abortion should be left up to the states, but he believes the procedure should be banned at the time brain activity begins, at around five to six weeks.

“I think that the pro-life movement, and I consider myself a part of that, hasn’t done enough to walk the walk in actually standing for life and pro-life principles," he said in an interview with the Des Moines Register and NBC News.

He said that includes expanding access to adoption and child care, as well as creating more legal responsibility for fathers.

Ramaswamy voted against an Ohio ballot measure to enshrine the right to an abortion in the state’s constitution. He also said in an Iowa CNN town hall that the Supreme Court should restrict the availability of a medication used to induce abortion.

Asa Hutchinson

Former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson said he would not push for a national abortion ban but that he would sign one if it came across his desk.

“Just to be totally frank, if there was a consensus, and reasonable exceptions were present, and reasonable restrictions, I would sign it,” he said. “I’m not going to veto the bill. But I’m not pushing at the national level, and I don’t expect that to happen.”

Hutchinson said he expects the issue to be worked out at the state level, with different states taking different approaches on how to regulate abortion.

Ryan Binkley

On his campaign website, Texas pastor and CEO Ryan Binkley said that he believes in “promoting a culture of life.”

He said that care should extend to improving adoption and foster care services for children. His stated position does not advocate for any specific federal abortion policy.

“My heart breaks for hundreds of thousands of unborn children who lost their lives to abortion last year, but it also breaks for the hundreds of thousands of kids without a real home,” his campaign website stated.