President Joe Biden — who has made abortion the center of his reelection campaign — refused to name the abortion restrictions he supports during Thursday’s presidential debate.
CNN’s Dana Bash, who was moderating the debate with Jake Tapper, asked 81-year-old Biden: “Seven states have no legal restrictions on how far into a pregnancy a woman can obtain an abortion. Do you support any legal limits on how late a woman should be able to terminate a pregnancy?”
Biden replied by stating that he supports the Supreme Court’s 1973 Roe v. Wade decision, which had invented a constitutional right to abortion. Under Roe, abortions were allowed up until viability — around 22 to 24 weeks of pregnancy and when a baby can potentially survive outside the womb with medical assistance — although states were allowed to regulate abortions after that point, meaning some states allowed abortion throughout pregnancy.
“I support Roe v. Wade, which had three trimesters: the first time is between a woman and her doctor; the second time is between a doctor and an extreme situation; and the third time is between a woman and the state,” the self-proclaimed Catholic said.
“The idea that the founders wanted politicians to be the ones making decisions about women’s health is ridiculous. No politicians should be making those decisions,” he added. “Doctors should be making those decisions. That’s how it should be run. That’s what we’re going to do, and if I’m elected, I’m going to restore Roe v. Wade.”
In his rebuttal, former President Donald Trump said Biden “means that he can take the life of the baby in the ninth month and even after birth because some states — Democrat-run — take it after birth.” Trump referenced comments from former Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam (D) discussing a bill that would allow “abortion” even during childbirth and would permit an “infant” to be “delivered” and “resuscitated, if that’s what the mother and the family desired,” until the physicians and mother discuss what to do.
“So, [Biden is] willing to, as we say, rip the baby out of the womb in the ninth month and kill the baby,” Trump continued. “Nobody wants that to happen, Democrat or Republican, nobody wants that to happen.”
Biden accused Trump of lying and claimed that “Roe v. Wade does not provide for that.”
“That’s not the circumstance — only when a woman’s life is in danger or she’s going to die. That’s the only circumstance in which that can happen. But we are not for late-term abortion. Period. Period. Period.” Biden claimed.
“Under Roe v. Wade, you have late-term abortion,” Trump replied. “You can do whatever you want depending on the state. You can do whatever you want. We don’t think that’s a good thing. We think it’s a radical thing. We think the Democrats are the radicals, not the Republicans.
Biden has made restoring Roe the day-one, top priority of his reelection campaign. Democrats are aiming to pass the Women’s Health Protection Act, which they claim would restore Roe, but it is actually an expansion of Roe and would allow for abortions throughout pregnancy. The Women’s Health Protection Act has been introduced multiple times but has yet to be successfully passed.
Vice President Kamala Harris has also refused to name abortion restrictions she supports, and both Biden and Harris are propped up by millions of dollars from various abortion groups.
Katherine Hamilton is a political reporter for Breitbart News. You can follow her on X @thekat_hamilton.
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