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.
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 not viable.
Reproductive rights have been central in politics in the aftermath of the 2022 Supreme Court decision overturning Roe v. 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 supports federal legislation allowing abortions until a fetus could survive outside of the womb, and later if required for medical reasons. She was the first White House official to visit an abortion clinic.
Trump has made a dizzying array of 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.