Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump sparred over late-term abortion during their first presidential debate in Philadelphia on Tuesday.
When asked by the ABC moderators about abortion, a difficult subject for Trump and Republicans in the 2024 election cycle, Trump said that Democrats in several states support being able to abort a fetus late into pregnancy.
Trump initially misspoke, saying that the former governor of West Virginia as saying that he supported abortion after birth.
The former president was referring to comments from former Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam, who said that he supported measures in which “the infant would be kept comfortable” after birth until the mother decided what to do. Trump later in the segment corrected himself and correctly referenced the former Virginia governor.
Harris responded to Trump’s claims by saying that she supports codifying into law the “protections of Roe v. Wade,” which established a federal constitutional right to abortion, and denied Trump’s claim that there are any states in which abortion is legal on demand at any point during pregnancy.
“Nowhere in America is a woman carrying a pregnancy to term and asking for an abortion. That is not an abortion. That is not happening,” said Harris.
According to the healthcare think tank KFF, there are seven states that have no gestational age limits for abortion.
There are also 11 states that have statutory requirements of abortion up to fetal viability except for in cases of the “good faith medical judgment” or “professional judgment” of an abortion provider or physician for the life or health of the mother.
There are four states that allow abortion into the 24th week of pregnancy and beyond in cases in which a medical professional makes a “good faith” or “professional” judgment that it is necessary for the the life or health of the mother.
Anti-abortion advocates say that those exceptions open the door to abortion at any time during pregnancy.
“Will she allow abortion in the eighth month, ninth month, seventh month, okay, would you do that?” Trump said.
Harris did not answer.
Trump also noted that Harris’s running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, is “a horrible pick” in part because of his support for abortion into the ninth month.
“Her vice presidential pick says abortion in the ninth month is absolutely fine,” said Trump. “He also says execution after birth–it’s execution, no longer abortion because the baby is born. And that’s not okay with me.”
Walz, as governor, signed the Protect Reproductive Options Act in January 2023, following the first election after the Supreme Court overturned Roe.
The law codified a “fundamental right to reproductive freedom” and essentially prohibited any restrictions on abortion, including gestational age limits.