Staunchly anti-abortion Republican governors who have shepherded abortion restrictions in their states are piling on to Donald Trump for his recent comment labeling Florida’s six-week abortion ban “a terrible thing.” “It’s never a ‘terrible thing’ to protect innocent life,” Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds posted Tuesday on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter. “I’m proud of the fetal heartbeat bill the Iowa legislature passed and I signed in 2018 and again earlier this year.” Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp also made similar comments Tuesday, highlighting the state leaders’ focus on restricting access to the procedure. Trump, looking toward a general election as he runs away with the Republican primary race, appears to be attempting to thread the needle on the issue. While he helped cement a conservative Supreme Court majority that gutted abortion rights, he appears to be skeptical of leaning further right on the issue — especially when he can use his position to draw contrast with DeSantis, the second-polling candidate in the field. “I think what he did is a terrible thing and a terrible mistake,” Trump told NBC’s Kristen Welker in an interview that aired Sunday on “Meet the Press,” referring to a six-week abortion ban DeSantis signed in April. In his comment, DeSantis stood firm with the Iowa governor. The law he signed remains under litigation in state courts. “I applaud Governor @KimReynoldsIA and the Iowa legislature for promoting a culture of life,” DeSantis wrote on X. “Donald Trump is wrong to attack the heartbeat bill as ‘terrible.’ Standing for life is a noble cause.” Trump has also taken heat for the comment from an array of conservative activists, including the leader of Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America, an influential advocacy group, who also said the former president was “wrong” for making it. Since the Supreme Court overturned 1973’s Roe v. Wade in 2022, more than a dozen Republican-led states have banned abortion in most cases, while others imposed significant restrictions. Many of those laws remain under litigation even as polls find that the public generally supports access to the procedure. Perhaps cognizant of the issue’s potency, Trump took to social media on Tuesday to defend his record on abortion.