Originally published by The 19th

Former first lady Melania Trump defends abortion rights in her new memoir, The Guardian reported Wednesday. 

Melania Trump wrote in the book, set to publish Tuesday, that abortion is a “personal freedom” — a framing similar to that used by Democratic presidential nominee, Vice President Kamala Harris, and one that is in line with the views of most American women between the ages of 18 and 49.

Melania Trump has been largely absent on the campaign trail and rarely expresses political views. 

The former first lady also defended the right to an abortion later in pregnancy, noting that many of those abortions involve wanted pregnancies with medical complications diagnosed later on. 

“It’s a very straightforward concept; in fact, we are all born with a set of fundamental rights, including the right to enjoy our lives,” she wrote. “We are all entitled to maintain a gratifying and dignified existence.”

Those views put her at odds with her husband, former President Donald Trump, who has taken credit for overturning Roe v. Wade, the 1973 Supreme Court decision that granted the right to an abortion. The GOP presidential nominee has falsely claimed that Democrats support abortions even after birth — an effort to frame his opponents as radical and to win back trust on an issue where Republicans have struggled. 

“The cultural stigma associated with abortion must be lifted,” she wrote in her memoir. 

Melania Trump appeared to allude to the report Thursday morning, in a video posted to her account on the social media platform X.

"There is no room for compromise when it comes to this essential right that all women possess from birth," she said in the video. "Individual freedom. What does my body my choice really mean?”

The publication of her memoir comes as Republicans — and especially Donald Trump — have tried to rebrand their approach to abortion. On Tuesday night, Donald Trump posted on Truth Social, a social media platform he is a majority owner of, suggesting he would veto any effort to enact a national abortion ban. Still, abortion opponents largely back him, believing that they are more likely to wield influence in a Republican administration than a Democratic one. 

The Republican National Committee also endorsed a platform this summer that suggests support in the U.S. Constitution for fetal personhood, an ideology that supports equal rights for an embryo or fetus as a human. That argumentation could be used to support banning abortion or in vitro fertilization. The RNC endorsed this theory as an avenue for states to enact further restrictions. 

And Project 2025, a policy blueprint authored by former Donald Trump advisors, supports using an 1800s law called the Comstock Act to ban the mailing of pills used in most abortions. The authors also support leveraging the Food and Drug Administration to take one of those drugs, mifepristone, off the market.