Donald Trump Refused to Say He’d Veto a National Abortion Ban…Twice

On Tuesday night, Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump met in person for the very first time for what could be the only presidential debate and, as expected, Trump sounded like a raving madman, claiming that he’s a leader on IVF, repeating right-wing lies about immigrants eating people’s pets, and praising a Hungarian dictator. But in a slightly surprising twist, he refused to say that he would veto a national abortion ban—not once, but twice. Yikes!

It was the first debate since Joe Biden dropped out of the race in late July and it’s the only one that the two campaigns have agreed to thus far. The moderators asked about abortion about 15 minutes in and, boy, did Trump dig himself into a grave.

Trump said he wasn’t in favor of a federal abortion ban, but that it didn’t matter because the issue has been returned to the states. This is his favored lie of the last few months as he pretends to be a moderate, but a Trump administration could actually enact a ban by enforcing a 19th-century law called the Comstock Act—a law that dozens of Democrats want to neuter. The Supreme Court could also uphold federal abortion restrictions in response to lawsuits.

Moderator Linsey Davis followed up on the legislative front to ask Trump if he would veto a national abortion ban if it passed Congress. He claimed he “won’t have to” because such a law would never pass Congress because it’s equally divided. (I have deja vu to Nikki Haley.) Notably, his answer did not contain the word “yes.”

Davis followed up again to remind Trump that his running mate JD Vance recently said Trump would veto an abortion ban, asking him to give a yes or no. Trump threw Vance under the bus immediately: “Well, I didn’t discuss it with JD, in all fairness. And I don’t mind if he has a certain view,” he said. “Look, we don’t have to discuss it.”

Trump unable to answer yes or no if he would veto a national abortion ban… throws JD Vance under the bus pic.twitter.com/d3xED6KUwC

— Acyn (@Acyn) September 11, 2024

Trump again tried to argue that this conversation is moot and then tried to say that Harris wouldn’t be able to enact federal abortion protections because Biden’s programs on student loans didn’t go through. Those were struck down by the Supreme Court, so what Trump did was effectively point out that his nominees cost people a lot of money. Masterful gambit, sir.

Meanwhile, Harris absolutely bodied Trump with a righteous defense of bodily autonomy—though we would argue that any denied abortion is immoral, not just those denied to people who are survivors of crimes.

She talked about how “Trump’s abortion bans” are harming people and families across the U.S., including the impact on families undergoing IVF. Here are some more clips people might enjoy:

Vice President Harris: You want to talk about, ‘this is what people wanted?’ Pregnant women who want to carry a pregnancy to term, suffering from a miscarriage being denied care in an emergency room because the health care providers are afraid they might go to jail, and she's… pic.twitter.com/aWdmC883xZ

— Kamala HQ (@KamalaHQ) September 11, 2024

And here:

Vice President Harris to Trump: “What you are putting women through is unconscionable.” pic.twitter.com/zXmvzBBXt2

— Kamala HQ (@KamalaHQ) September 11, 2024

Elsewhere in the abortion section, Trump lied by saying he didn’t know about Project 2025, saying he hadn’t read it, but that it contained a lot of ideas, “some good, some bad.” He then repeated a vile lie that Democrats support “abortions after birth,” quoting out-of-context comments from former Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam (D) on palliative care for terminally ill fetuses and newborns, but Trump got confused and said it was the governor of West Virginia. He continued to say that babies are being executed, which Davis quickly fact-checked.

He also praised his three Supreme Court appointees for their “genius, heart and strength” in overturning Roe v. Wade and got very defensive after Harris invoked the Alabama Supreme Court decision on IVF, claiming “I have been a leader on IVF, which is fertilization.”

There was a lot of pressure on Harris going into tonight, given that the last debate literally ended President Joe Biden’s 50-year political career. But she was smarter, calmer, and more presidential than the guy rambling about people eating pets.