What Trump and Harris Said About Abortion at the Debate
Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump lambasted one another over their stances on abortion during the presidential debate Tuesday night.
Harris pledged that if Congress passes a bill to reinstate the protections that were guaranteed by Roe v. Wade, she would “proudly sign it into law” if elected president. She condemned state-level abortion bans, sharing stories of pregnant women who were unable to get emergency medical care or forced to carry pregnancies to term or because of restrictive laws. She also slammed Trump for his role in the Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization ruling that rolled back abortion rights (Trump appointed three of the U.S. Supreme Court justices who ruled in favor of overturning the landmark decision).
“Donald Trump certainly should not be telling a woman what to do with her body,” Harris said.
Trump, who has commended the U.S. Supreme Court for overturning Roe v. Wade, continued to falsely insist that most legal scholars wanted Roe overturned, and that the public at large wanted the issue returned to the states. The former President railed against Democrats for their stance on abortion, claiming falsely that Democrats’ position on abortion is so extreme that they support “execution after birth.” Once he finished his remarks, ABC News moderator Linsey Davis pointed out that it is not legal to execute a baby in any state.
Harris was also quick to call out Trump’s falsehoods. “Nowhere in America is a woman carrying a pregnancy to term and asking for an abortion. That is not happening. It’s insulting to the women of America,” Harris said.
It echoed much of the same rhetoric Trump used in the previous presidential debate with President Joe Biden, when he falsely said that doctors under the Biden Administration want to “take the life of the baby in the ninth month, and even after birth.”
Reproductive rights have taken center stage in the 2024 election cycle: 10 states are set to vote on abortion rights on Nov. 5. and Harris has made the issue a major theme of her campaign. Many polls show that Americans largely support access to abortion.
Harris accused Trump of planning to authorize a national ban on abortion if he were to be re-elected—a claim Trump vehemently denied, saying that the decision should be left up to individual states. When asked if he would veto a federal abortion ban that reached his desk in a second term, Trump refused to answer, insisting it wasn’t an issue because Congress would never pass that.
“For 52 years, this issue has torn our country apart,” Trump said. “I did something that nobody thought was possible.”
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