(Oregon Right to Life) — Former U.S. President Donald Trump and current Vice President Kamala Harris squared off Tuesday night at the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in their first presidential debate since Harris’ unprecedented nomination.
The fast-paced, often tense 90-minute face-off, hosted by ABC News and moderated by liberal news anchors Lynsey Davis and David Muir, saw the candidates respond to questions on a wide variety of hot-button issues ranging from foreign wars and the U.S. economy to state and federal laws surrounding abortion.
Neither candidate’s statements about abortion varied significantly from those propounded by Trump and current U.S. President Joe Biden during their June debate just ahead of Biden’s withdrawal from the 2024 race.
Questioned about her stance on legal abortion, Harris reiterated her support for codifying Roe v. Wade, the now-overturned 1973 Supreme Court decision that mandated legal abortion nationwide. She also criticized Trump for allegedly appointing “hand-selected” Supreme Court justices for the purpose of overturning Roe.
“The government should not be telling a woman what to do with her body,” the vice president said.
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When pressed, Harris refused to express support for any legal limits on abortion at any stage of pregnancy, something she has also consistently failed to do in the past. She repeated a phrase that has become central to her campaign, declaring that America “will not go back” to a time in which abortion was not legal.
For his part, Trump touted his role in the overturning of Roe v. Wade, arguing that returning the abortion issue “back to the states” and to a “vote of the people” is “what everyone wanted.”
“We were able to do that,” he said, adding that the decision took “courage.” He said Harris’ pledge to codify Roe is “just talk” since, he predicted, there will not be sufficient support for such a measure in Congress.
When asked whether he would support or veto an abortion ban, Trump said he’s “not in favor” of a federal ban and “there’s no reason to sign” one, reiterating that he believes the matter should be adjudicated by the states.
The former president also reaffirmed his support for In-Vitro Fertilization (IVF). IVF is a controversial topic for many pro-life advocates since the process involves the commodification of human beings and, frequently, the cryopreservation and eventual destruction of lab-created human embryos.
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During the debate, Trump said Harris supports legal abortion up until the moment of birth, as well as allowing babies who survive failed abortions to die.
In response, Harris argued elective abortions in the ninth month aren’t happening, and that such claims are “insulting” to women. But Marjorie Dannenfelser, president of Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America, said “President Trump is right.”
“Kamala Harris is the extremist in this race on abortion. Harris continually refuses to name any limit on abortion she supports – even painful late-term abortions of healthy babies in the seventh, eighth and ninth month, for any reason, paid for by taxpayers,” she said. “Harris and Walz have made it crystal clear that, if elected, they will impose an all-trimester abortion mandate on all 50 states and shut down the pro-life safety net including thousands of pregnancy centers that provide vital services for women.”
Harris also lobbed attacks against current pro-life laws, arguing that states that protect the unborn are forcing young girls to carry their rapists’ babies and mandating that women suffer miscarriages without proper medical care. But Trump has consistently affirmed support for exceptions in the cases of rape, incest, or the life of the mother. Most pro-life states have rape and incest exceptions, though many pro-life advocates point out that every unborn baby has an inherent right to life despite how they were conceived.
Moreover, all pro-life states clearly define abortion as the intentional termination of an otherwise developing human being in the womb and hold exceptions for the life of the mother. Necessary removal of a fetus or embryo, as in the case of an ectopic or molar pregnancy, cancerous uterus, or a miscarriage, is legal in every state that has laws protecting the unborn. Pro-life laws do not hold vital medical interventions to be equivalent to abortions deliberately intended to end unborn human life.
“Harris’s entire career has had one consistency—abortion,” Carol Tobias, president of National Right to Life said in a Tuesday press release. “She has ‘joyfully’ supported the destruction of innocent preborn babies and, if elected, would make it a cornerstone issue of her administration.”
“Kamala Harris and Tim Walz will push for the most radical abortion policies possible because the goal of the Democratic Party is no longer ‘safe, legal, and rare,’” Tobias said. “Kamala Harris, Tim Walz, and the Democratic Party want unlimited abortion at any cost—including the lives of precious preborn babies and the harm that could happen to their mothers.”
The debate comes as recent polling suggests Kamala Harris’ popularity surge following Biden’s withdrawal and Harris’ nomination appears to have subsided in recent days.
The polls seem to indicate that Harris and Trump are in a virtual dead heat with less than two months to go before the November election. An NPR/PBS/Marist survey found Harris leading Trump by only one percentage point nationally. Conversely, a Times/Siena poll saw Trump one point ahead of Harris. Both results fall within the polls’ margin of error.
Oregon Right to Life believes in the sanctity of all human life from the moment of conception to natural death. Abortion ends the life of a genetically distinct, growing human being. We oppose abortion at any point of gestation. In rare cases, a mother may have a life threatening condition in which medical procedures intended to treat the condition of the mother may result in the unintended death of her preborn baby. At the same time, ORTL recognizes that modern medical practice has and will continue to increase the ability to save both the life of the mother and the baby. Read this and all of our position statements here.
