Abortion ban hangs over presidential debate
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Abortion predictably loomed large over Tuesday's presidential debate, with Vice President Kamala Harris asserting that former President Trump would sign a national abortion ban and Trump taking a leave-it-to-the-states posture.
The big picture: Trump continued to waffle on abortion, at one point appearing to contradict GOP vice presidential candidate JD Vance's recent claim that the former president would veto a national ban.
- Harris, meanwhile, attacked Trump's assertion that returning the issue to the states was what most people wanted and blamed him for nominating Supreme Court justices whose votes helped overturn Roe v. Wade.
- "I think the American people believe that certain freedoms, in particular the freedom to make decisions about one's own body, should not be made by the government," she said.
- Harris has made reproductive rights a central issue even before she became the Democratic standard-bearer. In March, she became the first president or vice president to tour an abortion clinic while in office.
Trump again claimed credit for the Dobbs decision that overturned Roe v. Wade, saying, "Every legal scholar, every Democrat, every Republican, liberal, conservative, they all wanted" the issue of abortion "to be brought back to the states."
- When Harris said Trump would sign a national abortion ban into law if he wins, Trump replied, "It's a lie. I'm not signing a ban ... because we've gotten what everybody wanted."
- Trump last spring suggested that a national 15-week abortion ban with exceptions could be "very reasonable," also emphasizing that he supported exceptions in cases of rape, incest or life-threatening complications.
Trump also repeated that he'd keep the Affordable Care Act in place unless his administration comes up with "something that's better and less expensive."
- Pressed by moderator Linsey Davis, if he had a replacement plan, Trump replied, "I have concepts of a plan."
- Harris said she supported private health care options and building on the Affordable Care Act.
- She pledged to extend caps on drug costs for seniors beyond Medicare to the private market.
Sareen Habeshian contributed to this story.
