Former U.S. President Donald Trump leaves the stage after speaking during an event at his Mar-a-Lago home on Nov. 15, 2022, in Palm Beach, Florida. (Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images)

In his Mar-a-Lago press conference, Donald Trump claimed abortion would be a “small issue” in the November election. But polls indicate that isn’t true. Jara Butler from Supermajority talks with theGrio about how women’s reproductive rights and abortion are front and center, and impacting women’s overall healthcare.

In an erratic press conference from his home in Mar-a-Lago, Donald Trump claimed on Thursday that abortion would be a “small issue” in the November election.

“I think the abortion issue has been taken down many notches. I don’t think it’s — I don’t think it’s a big factor anymore, really,” Trump told reporters.

The statement contradicts what most polls and research say – which is that the majority of Americans support the legal right to access abortion, particularly in cases of rape, incest or danger to the mother’s life. The Pew Research Center reports that 63% of voters say “abortion should be legal in all or most cases.”

While the former president has previously bragged about his role in getting Roe v. Wade struck down, Trump’s most recent comments signal he’s trying to minimize damage from his unpopular anti-abortion stance.  It notably didn’t come up during his on-stage appearance at the Republican National Convention.

Republicans lost numerous elections in the 2022 midterms when abortion was on the ballot. According to Jara Butler, chief impact officer for Supermajority, a women’s equality group, abortion and reproductive rights in general are top priorities for women voters.

“Reproductive freedom is at the top of mind, for every voter, especially, for women, especially because we are the most impacted,” Butler told theGrio. “But what we find, especially with Black women and young Black women, is they’re looking at reproductive freedom from the lens of reproductive justice. They’re looking at a medical system that is already dealing with medical racism. And understanding that our outcomes look different. They’re talking about maternal mortality. You’re talking about infant mortality. They’re talking about being able to go to a physician and being heard and seen.”

Butler also says that based on research conducted by Supermajority Ed Fund, Black women see reproductive rights as being about more than abortion.

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“It’s not just about abortion,” Butler says. “It’s about how we are provided for it in the medical system. We’re talking about reproductive freedom and access to abortion, what has been eliminated because of the Dobbs decision. It’s also access to critical care, and especially for rural folks, like my family who are in a rural part of Texas, who do not have access to, OB/GYN because they’re leaving those areas. That’s less access for breast cancer screenings, that’s less access for ovarian cancer screenings. That means that they have delayed care, and that affects our mortality and our very real lived experiences.”

According to the Guttmacher Institute, there are 14 states which have banned abortion entirely. They also report that 27 states ban abortion based on how far along you are in your pregnancy. The National Partnership for Women & Families notes that almost 55% of Black women reside in states with abortion bans or the real threat of an abortion ban.

Watch the full segment with Jara Butler above and visit theGrio’s YouTube channel to see other clips.