Former president Donald Trump repeated a familiar false claim that some states allow people to obtain abortions after a baby is born on the debate stage Tuesday evening – a claim that was quickly smacked down by moderator Linsey Davis.
“[Democrats] have abortion in the ninth month,” the former president falsely stated.
Trump once again claimed that “the previous governor of West Virginia” said the state would “decide what to do with the baby” after it was born.
“In other words, we’ll execute the baby,” Trump claimed.
Davis corrected the former president about his statement saying, “There is no state in this country where it is legal to kill a baby after it’s born.”
Trump’s claim is one that anti-abortion activists have launched before. His assertion originates from a quote taken out of context from former Virginia governor Ralph Northam in 2019.
Northam was giving a hypothetical example of what could happen if a pregnant person whose fetus was not viable requested an abortion while in labor.
Anti-abortion activists have used the so-called concept of “after-birth abortions” to paint loose abortion laws as radical. But there is no state where a baby can be legally killed after birth.
Harris reiterated to the former president that his assertion was false and “insulting to the women of America”.
The vice president, who campaigns on reproductive freedoms, blamed Trump for restrictive abortion laws in the United States and shared harrowing stories of women who experienced physical and emotional pain as a result.
At the Democratic watch party, viewers cheered for Harris’s response about the former president causing the end of Roe v. Wade, according to The Independent‘s Washington bureau chief Eric Garcia.
Trump also commended the six conservative Supreme Court Justices for overturning Roe and said laws pertaining to abortion were rightfully brought back to the states.
However, when asked if he would support a federal abortion ban, Trump did not give a straightforward answer.
The former president also revealed he had not discussed whether he would veto a federal abortion ban with JD Vance, his vice-presidential running mate, who has claimed that Trump would veto such a bill.
