Washington, D.C. – Former president Donald Trump said he will consider reimplementing a ban on taxpayer funding for abortion overseas as well as establishing religious exemptions for any government program that requires health insurance coverage of in vitro fertilization (IVF) during an Oct. 17 interview with EWTN’s Raymond Arroyo.
The Catholic News Agency reports that the former president was interviewed on “The World Over with Raymond Arroyo” Thursday night ahead of the annual Al Smith dinner, organized by the Archdiocese of New York.
During the interview, he made a direct appeal to Catholic voters, spoke fondly of the Church, and criticized his opponent, Vice President Kamala Harris, for not attending the dinner in person.
Arroyo asked Trump several questions about abortion and IVF, particularly whether the former president would reinstate the Mexico City Policy, which prohibits taxpayer funding for organizations that provide abortion overseas. The rule was first implemented during the Reagan administration and has been the policy of every Republican president since, including the prior Trump administration.
“We’re going to be giving that a very good, serious look,” Trump said without committing to reimplementing the policy.
Arroyo also pressed Trump for additional details on a plan he announced in August to impose a rule in which either the government or insurance companies pay for IVF. The Catholic Church opposes IVF because it separates procreation from the marital act and destroys millions of human embryonic lives.
When asked whether he would support a religious exemption for those opposed to IVF, Trump said: “I haven’t been asked that, but it sounds to me like a pretty good idea.”
“It’s a very popular thing, but certainly if there’s a religious problem, I think people should go with that,” the 2024 Republican presidential nominee said. “[I] really think they should be able to do that. But we will look at that.”
Trump said religious liberty is “a stance that I’ve taken from the beginning and I’ll keep it.” He contrasted his approach with that of his opponent, saying: “I stand for really everything that you stand for and that the Church stands for. And she doesn’t. She’s a very different kind of a person. She’s a Marxist. Her father was a Marxist and still is a Marxist. And they are not big into religion.”
“I am totally in favor of religion and I also like the Catholic Church a lot,” he emphasized, while expressing confidence that he comes up the winner for voters who apply the “lesser of two evils” measure Pope Francis last month urged voters to apply to their choice in the U.S. election.
Trump pointedly criticized Harris for not attending the Al Smith dinner, which both major party candidates have attended during presidential election years for nearly four decades, saying the event is “honoring the Catholic Church” and that he has “been a longtime supporter.”
“I’m surprised she’s not here,” Trump said. “I think she’s the first one in many, many in decades, actually, to miss it as a candidate. It [has] always been a tradition. So I’m happy only that the Catholics are going to vote for Trump now. But no, look, I have a special relationship with the Catholic Church, and I think it was very important to be here.”
Arroyo also inquired about Trump frequently playing “Ave Maria” at rallies and recently making social media posts honoring the Blessed Virgin Mary and St. Michael the Archangel. The former president said those posts do not reflect a spiritual journey but that he simply thinks they are “very beautiful.”
“It’s just beautiful to me,” Trump said. “I mean, I look at the whole thing, the words and the pictures. The pictures are so beautiful.”
Some recent polls show that Catholic voters are nearly evenly divided on the 2024 presidential election. According to a September Pew Research Center survey, about 52% of Catholics support Trump and 47% support Harris. A poll conducted by the National Catholic Reporter found that Catholics in the seven most tightly contested swing states preferred Trump 50% to Harris’ 45%.
