The spirited showdown between former President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris showcased the stark differences between the two candidates.
Unsurprisingly, abortion — an issue on which Ms. Harris has seemingly set the heart and soul of her campaign — was one of the biggest lightning rods of the fiery faceoff.
A tense exchange kicked off after Mr. Trump said Democrats push “abortion in the ninth month.” His claim highlighted the near-constant reluctance by Ms. Harris and other progressives to go on the record in support of any restriction or cap on late-term abortion.
The reality of this blatant refusal was on full display when ABC debate moderator Linsey Davis asked Ms. Harris, “Would you support any restrictions on a woman’s right to an abortion?”
Rather than answer with clarity or honesty, the vice president evaded the question and said, “I absolutely support reinstating the protections of Roe v. Wade.” But Roe v. Wade didn’t offer any protections for the unborn, nor did it cap abortions — something Ms. Harris knows very well.
The now-defunct 1973 Supreme Court decision required that states allow abortion until viability when a fetus could generally live outside the womb. Ms. Harris’ skirting of the question should have been fact-checked on the spot, but the moderators showed interest only in annotating Mr. Trump’s comments.
Ms. Harris took her abortion compulsion further.
“Nowhere in America is a woman carrying a pregnancy to term and asking for an abortion,” she said. “That is not happening. It’s insulting to the women of America.”
Aside from the fact that thousands of late-term abortions are performed each year, if no one is seeking these late-term abortions and they’re nonexistent, what’s the harm in Ms. Harris and other Democrats going on the record and placing a gestational cap on the procedure?
Ms. Harris’ claim that these things happen “nowhere in America” simply isn’t corroborated, as the data on late-term abortion is sparse and incomplete.
The media love to hammer home the statistic that just 1% of abortions unfold after 21 weeks. But with 625,978 abortions in 2021 alone, that percentage accounts for over 6,250 terminations taking place later in pregnancy — a number often conveniently left out of the conversation.
The abortion back-and-forth also took another turn when Mr. Trump made an allegation regarding the killing of babies after birth.
“You can look at the … previous governor of West Virginia. … He said the baby will be born and we will decide what to do with the baby,” Mr. Trump said. “In other words, we’ll execute the baby.”
Not long after, Ms. Davis inserted herself into the debate to fact-check Mr. Trump. She proclaimed, “There is no state in this country where it is legal to kill a baby after it’s born.”
Ms. Davis’ statement is true, though critics have pondered why she felt the need to interject herself in an exchange that should have been handled by Ms. Harris, Mr. Trump’s opponent. Regardless, the context surrounding the scenario is essential to understand.
As it turns out, Mr. Trump, who mistakenly said West Virginia in his statement, was likely referring to Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam, who came under fire in 2019 for comments he made about late-term abortion.
At the time, Dr. Northam, a physician who served four years as governor, was addressing a bill that would have reduced the number of doctors needed to sign off on late-term abortions in cases where a woman’s health is substantially impaired. Dr. Northam, reacting to that proposal, raised eyebrows while discussing situations where there “may be” babies with severe deformities or unborn children who are nonviable.
“The infant would be delivered; the infant would be kept comfortable,” Dr. Northam said. “The infant would be resuscitated if that’s what the mother and the family desire, and then a discussion would ensue between the physicians and the mother.”
It was the comment about resuscitation that shocked critics. Keep in mind that Dr. Northam made these statements while being pressed over remarks from the bill’s sponsor indicating the proposal would have allowed abortions even as a woman showed “physical signs that she is about to give birth” or was “dilating.”
Mr. Trump, of course, didn’t get into the details or explain this context during the debate. Doing so would have helped clarify his proclamations.
And while we’re on the topic: here’s another troubling aspect of the abortion debate that must be discussed. While Ms. Harris, Dr. Northam and others persistently assert that late-term abortions are always tied to deformities and severe circumstances, the law often goes further.
Current Virginia law allows for “after second-trimester” abortion if three doctors sign off that a pregnancy “is likely to result in the death of the woman or substantially and irremediably impair the mental or physical health of the woman.”
The “mental” health aspect leaves the door wide open, it would seem, for other excuses not mentioned by these politicians in their pro-abortion diatribes.
Circling back to Mr. Trump’s comments about “execution after birth,” the former president also took aim at Ms. Harris’ running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz.
“Her vice presidential pick says abortion in the ninth month is absolutely fine,” Mr. Trump said. “He also says execution after birth; it’s execution, no longer abortion, because the baby is born, is OK. And that’s not OK with me.”
While Mr. Trump didn’t give further context, he’s likely referring to Mr. Walz’s amendment and repeal of laws as governor requiring lifesaving treatment be given to infants born alive during botched abortions.
“The bill left intact the first subdivision — which read ‘All reasonable measures consistent with good medical practice, including the compilation of appropriate medical records, shall be taken to preserve the life and health of the child,’” The Dispatch reported. “But changed its language requiring medical personnel to ‘preserve the life and health of the born alive infant’ to instead require medical personnel to ‘care for the infant who is born alive.’”
Critics found this language deeply troubling. And in case anyone doubts that babies can be accidentally born alive, it happened in Minnesota at least 16 times between 2015 and 2018, three times in 2019,and five times in 2021, according to state data reviewed by The Dispatch. Mr. Walz’s bill also reportedly repealed certain reporting requirements.
Furthermore, Ms. Harris’ running mate also signed a bill embedding abortion rights into Minnesota law — a measure that includes no limits to abortion, meaning it’s legally available throughout pregnancy.
Mr. Trump is guilty of missing key details and some might disagree with his conclusions, but there’s important context to his remarks. The failure of the moderators to equally fact-check these sentiments is predictable — yet disappointing at best.
• Billy Hallowell is a digital TV host and interviewer for Faithwire and CBN News and the co-host of CBN’s “Quick Start Podcast.” He is the author of four books.
