“The View” co-host Joy Behar said Thursday she doesn’t buy Melania Trump’s pro-choice stance, which the former First Lady touted this week in promotions for her new memoir.
“Sixty-two percent of Americans oppose overthrowing Roe v. Wade, 62 percent, the Republican Party knows this. I think they put her up to this. I think it’s a big scam. They put her out there, you know, as the face of, like, the American population that wants to have abortion rights,” Behar stated.
In a video released on X Thursday morning, Melania Trump calls abortion a “fundamental principle.”
“Individual freedom is a fundamental principle that I safeguard. Without a doubt, there is no room for compromise when it comes to these essential rights that all women possess from birth. Individual freedom. What does ‘my body, my choice’ really mean?” the ex-president’s wife shared.
But Behar said the stance seemed disingenuous.
“I think that this is just a big lie,” Behar said. “I don’t buy it.”
Co-host Sunny Hostin then offered her take on the former FLOTUS’s message, suggesting Melania was trying to undermine her husband, former President Trump, a month out from election day.
“I really think that this is her way of undercutting his bid for the presidency because then she doesn’t have to deal with him anymore,” Hostin said. “I think that she wants to take him out and she’s doing a pretty damn good job with that.”
Trump and his running mate, Sen. JD Vance (R-Ohio) have sought to soften their tone on abortion in recent months, given how much the issue has hurt Republicans at the ballot box since Roe v. Wade was overturned.
Trump said this week that he would veto a national abortion ban if he returns to the White House and such legislation lands on his desk. However, he has also said he’s proud of his role in overturning constitutional protections for reproductive rights.
Melania also touched on women’s bodily autonomy in her forthcoming memoir.
“Restricting a woman’s right to choose whether to terminate an unwanted pregnancy is the same as denying her control over her own body. I have carried this belief with me throughout my entire adult life,” Melania wrote, according to reports from The Guardian.
Trump claimed he was aware and in support of Melania expressing her views on the politically sensitive topic, in an interview with Fox News’s Bill Melugin that aired Thursday.
“We spoke about it. And I said, you have to write what you believe. I’m not going to tell you what to do. You have to write what you believe.”