Democratic lawmaker says women won't be 'conned' after Trump argues states should set abortion restrictions

Sen. Tina Smith, D-Minn., said women will not be "conned" by former President Donald Trump, who last week publicly clarified his stance on abortion and said he believes states should decide their own restrictions on the procedure.

"We know that he is the one who is responsible for what's going on in Arizona and all over the country," Smith told ABC's George Stephanopoulos Sunday.

The Arizona Supreme Court Tuesday upheld an 1864 law that bans abortions in nearly all cases. Trump, the presumptive GOP presidential nominee, criticized the decision , just a day after stating that abortion legislation should be "up to the states."

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Smith, who previously served as vice president of Planned Parenthood of Minnesota, said Sunday she believes the issue will weigh heavily on the minds of voters there and in other states with restrictive abortion laws.

"Ask a woman in Arizona or Texas whether she thinks this is working for her," Smith said. "Because for her, this isn't a political discussion. This is about her personal life and her decisions that she can make for herself about her own life."

Arizona is one of about a dozen states where voters could consider a constitutional amendment enshrining abortion access on the ballot this fall. Advocates' efforts in Florida were successful, after the state Supreme Court allowed for a measure to appear on November's ballot. However, in a separate ruling the same day, the court also approved a six-week abortion limit in the state.

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Trump has long touted his role in overturning Roe v. Wade, the landmark case guaranteeing a constitutional right to an abortion. The former president appointed three conservative U.S. Supreme Court justices who ruled against 1973 decision.

And in 2024, Democrats are pointing fingers at Trump , with President Joe Biden's reelection campaign calling him the "one person responsible" for abortion laws in states like Florida and Arizona.

"He is responsible for these abortion bans," Smith told ABC, "and I think he's going to be held accountable for that come the election in November."

In the Senate, Smith is leading an effort to repeal the Comstock Act, a nineteenth century obscenity law that abortion opponents have argued is a de facto national ban. The law is at the center of a Supreme Court case challenging access to the abortion drug, mifepristone.

"This is a 150-year-old law that has been long been relegated to the dust bin of history, and yet we can see Trump judges and even the United States Supreme Court raising this up as a reason why people shouldn't be able to get medication through the mail. So we have to pay attention to this," Smith said.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Democratic lawmaker says women won't be 'conned' after Trump argues states should set abortion restrictions