Abortion quickly emerged as a flashpoint in the first presidential debate between former President Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris, the Republican falsely arguing that Democrats support killing babies after birth and the Democrat saying Trump can’t be trusted because of his dizzying statements on the matter.
“It’s an execution,” Trump said, claiming that Harris, running mate Tim Walz and their party supports allowing babies to be killed in the final months of pregnancy and after they are born. He appeared to confuse the governor of Virginia and the former governor of West Virginia as he attempted to make his point but later corrected himself.
Harris, looking skeptically at Trump, responded, “Well, as I said, you’re going to hear a bunch of lies.”
Killing babies after they are born is not legal in any state. Late-term pregnancies — after 21 weeks — account for less than 1% of abortions, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. They largely occur because the baby’s health is severely compromised and the baby is not viable. More than 80% of abortions occur in the first nine weeks of pregnancy, and 6% occur during the second trimester.
Reproductive rights have been central in politics in the aftermath of the 2022 Supreme Court decision overturning Roe vs. Wade, which ended a federal right to abortion. Democrats have seized upon the issue of women’s bodily autonomy, in part because it could motivate the critical bloc of suburban women voters in swing states.
Harris, who supports federal legislation allowing abortions until a fetus could survive outside the womb, and later if required for medical reasons, was the first White House official to visit an abortion clinic. She lashed out at Trump for appointing Supreme Court justices who supported overturning federal protection for abortion rights.
“Donald Trump hand-selected three members of the Supreme Court with the intention that they would undo the protections of Roe vs. Wade — and they did exactly as he intended,” she said, predicting that he would sign a national abortion ban if it was passed by the Senate and the House. “And now, in over 20 states, there are Trump abortion bans.”
Trump countered that Harris was lying, and said he would not sign a federal abortion ban. He also falsely stated that Americans of all political stripes support the issue being decided by the states, which is not backed up by polling that shows the majority of Americans do not approve of the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe, and support abortion rights.
“Look, this is an issue that’s torn our country apart for 52 years,” Trump said. “Every legal scholar, every Democrat, every Republican … they all wanted this issue to be brought back to the states where the people could vote, and that’s what happened.”
“Each individual state is voting. It’s the vote of the people. Now it’s not tied up in the federal government,” Trump said. “I did a great service in doing it. It took courage to do it, and the Supreme Court had great courage in doing it, and I give tremendous credit to those six justices.”
Trump has made contradictory statements about abortion. He has repeatedly boasted that he appointed the Supreme Court justices who helped overturn Roe. He has said he believes the matter should be decided by the states and that he would not support a federal ban. But he has also said that he would support a federal prohibition after a certain length of pregnancy, prompting Harris to say Trump is not trustworty about the issue and his acts have been “unconscionable.”
“It’s insulting to the women of America,” Harris said. “Understand what has been happening under Donald Trump’s abortion bans. Couples who pray and dream of having a family are being denied IVF treatments. What is happening in our country, working people, working women who are working one or two jobs who can barely afford child care as it is, have to travel to another state to get on a plane, sitting next to strangers to go and get the healthcare she needs.”
In addition to suburban women voters in swing states, the issue is also of particular importance in tight congressional races that could determine control of the U.S. House of Representatives, including many in California.
