On Abortion, Harris and Trump Were Both Right and Both Infuriatingly Wrong
Democrats support executing babies after birth. Former President Donald Trump wants a federal ban on abortion and on in vitro fertilization (IVF), too. At least, these are some “facts” you might have gleaned if you believed everything said in last night’s presidential debate.
The Harris/Trump match-up was both predictable and remarkable in a lot of ways. I’m going to focus on their exchanges regarding reproductive freedom. It was a segment marked by both candidates making some valid (and pro-freedom!) points and both candidates telling some big old whoppers.
Let’s start with the lies.
Do Democrats Want To Execute Babies?
Trump said repeatedly that Democrats, including Vice President Kamala Harris’ running mate Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, endorse executing babies after birth and implied that this was something actually happening in the U.S. before Roe v. Wade was overturned in 2022. It seems quite ridiculous that anyone would believe this, but for the record: this is not true.
“There is no state in this country where it is legal to kill a baby after it’s born,” as debate moderator Linsey Davis pointed out to Trump last night. Nor have Harris, Walz, or any mainstream Democratic politicians come out in favor of post-birth abortion, which would obviously just be murder.
Trump kept trying to bolster his lie by referencing the former governor of either West Virginia or Virginia—he mentioned both at various points. One or both of them are baby murder enthusiasts, Trump suggested. “The governor of Virginia said, we put the baby aside, and then we determine what we want to do with the baby,” Trump said.Â
Trump is likely referencing comments made by former Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam in 2019. Northam was discussing what happens if a woman delivers a nonviable fetus or a baby with life-threatening deformities. “The infant would be delivered, the infant would be kept comfortable, the infant would be resuscitated if that’s what the mother and the family desired. And then a discussion would ensue between the physicians and the mother,” Northam said. Some Republicans ran with this comment to suggest that Northam supported “post-birth abortions,” when what he was really discussing was palliative care for babies born fatal or likely fatal conditions.
Trump also kept suggesting last night that the Roe v. Wade regime meant states had to allow unfettered abortion through nine months of pregnancy. But the Roe regime actually allowed states to significantly restrict abortion in later months, and the vast majority did. Then—as is still the case now—only a handful of states opted out of setting legal limits on what point in a pregnancy abortion was banned. Even in these states, the lack of a legal prohibition on later-term abortions does not necessarily mean physicians would actually perform later-term abortions, nor that women were generally seeking them without good reason, like a pregnancy that was life-threatening or a fetus that was nonviable.
That’s not to say that late-term abortions desired for other reasons never take place. But late term abortions in general are relatively rare. According to U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data from 2012, the vast majority of U.S. abortions—upwards of 90 percent—are done in the first trimester (which goes through 13 weeks) and more than 65 percent take place in the first eight weeks. Only 1.3 percent take place at or after 21 weeks.
(I don’t know why Democrats never seem prepared to answer the late-term abortion question in a direct way. They would be wise to say something like “I support states restricting abortion in later pregnancy so long as there are adequate exceptions for extenuating circumstances, like situations where a woman’s life is threatened or a fetus isn’t viable.” This seems to be the position that many of them (Harris included) are hinting at, but they never just outright state it, which gives Republicans a foothold to attack them as abortion radicals. Last night, Harris would only say “I absolutely support reinstating the protections of Roe v. Wade” when asked whether she supports late-term abortions. It’s like they’re so worried about staying on message with abortion, or about alienating people who want absolutely no restrictions anywhere, that they forget to try and sound like humans.)
Does Trump Want To Ban Abortion, Ban IVF, and Monitor All Pregnancies?
Harris spread some misinformation and half-truths of her own during the abortion portion of last night’s debate. These false claims weren’t quite as egregious as Trump’s, since wrongly saying that someone and their entire party support infant murder is about as egregious as it gets. But Harris did seem to misrepresent Trump’s positions several times, insisting that he supported policies that he does not support.
“If Donald Trump were to be reelected, he will sign a national abortion ban,” Harris said.
Trump has repeatedly stated that he does not want a nationwide ban on abortion. Under his watch, the GOP removed a nationwide abortion ban plank from the party’s platform. Trump has also repeatedly praised the idea of abortion laws being left up to states. I’m not naive enough to think Trump couldn’t be persuaded into signing such a ban, should it pass. (And, last night, he wouldn’t answer a question about this directly.) But by all indications, it does not appear to be a policy he favors or would be pushing.
Harris’ claim here—as with Trump’s claims about late-term abortions—were both worded in such a way as to be somewhat or potentially true. Democrats do tend to favor some exceptions for abortion in later pregnancy. It’s possible, and perhaps even likely, that Trump would sign a national ban into law (specially if the ban was not total but, say, a 15-week ban). But these are claims clearly meant to invoke more extreme positions than those held in reality.
Harris also suggested IVF was imperiled thanks to Trump and that a Trump administration would be
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