Former President Trump refused to explicitly say he would veto any nationwide abortion ban during Tuesday night's presidential debate.
When asked directly if he would veto the ban, Trump suggested Congress doesn't need to pass it.
“I don't support banning abortion, but that doesn't matter, because the states have now taken over this issue,” Trump said. “We don't have to do that.”
Democrats worry that President Trump could enact nationwide abortion restrictions or bans without congressional approval, citing the Comstock Act, an 1873 law that banned the sending of abortion-related materials by mail.
President Trump again took credit for overturning Roe v. Wade, praising himself and the Supreme Court justices who voted to end abortion rights.
“I made a great contribution by doing that, but it took courage to do that. The Supreme Court had great courage to do that, and I give great credit to those six justices,” Trump said.
Vice President Harris attacked Trump over the current disparity in abortion laws across the country, which are banned or restricted in nearly two dozen states, and she referred to these laws as “Trump anti-abortion laws.”
“The government, and certainly Donald Trump, should not be telling women what to do with their bodies,” Harris said.
Harris said that in states where abortion is banned, women who suffer miscarriages are unable to seek treatment because doctors fear losing their licenses or being jailed “while bleeding in their cars in a parking lot.”
“She didn't want it. Her husband didn't want it,” Harris said, evoking Trump's argument that the US is more comfortable with abortion overall now than when Roe was the law of the land.
She also promised to “proudly sign” any bill passed by Congress that would restore the protections of Roe v. Wade.
But Trump pointed out that “she'll never get any votes.”
