Former President Donald Trump had made false claims about late-term abortions during Thursday’s debate with President Joe Biden, say experts.
On Thursday, Trump reiterated claims he made in 2016 about late-term abortions during a debate against then-presidential candidate Hillary Clinton.
He stated: “They will take the life of a child in the eighth month, the ninth month, and even after birth.”
Any claim to the contrary is incorrect, explained Dr. Dara Kass, an emergency medicine physician in New York and a former regional director at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, to NBC News.
“What he is talking about is murder, and it doesn’t happen in relation to abortion,” she said.
Late-term abortions, by definition, occur at or after 21 weeks of pregnancy. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, less than 1% of all abortions happen at this stage. Over 80% occur at or before nine weeks, and only 6% take place between 14 and 20 weeks, during the second trimester. Abortion does not involve ending the life of a baby after birth.
Reproductive rights groups took to social media during the debate, railing against Trump for his comments on abortion. Planned Parenthood Action posted on X: “This disinformation about abortion is meant to confuse people and distract from what Trump and his allies really want to do—ban all abortions.”
That’s literally not how abortion works. This disinformation about abortion is meant to confuse people and distract from what Trump and his allies really want to do → ban all abortions.
— Planned Parenthood Action (@PPact) June 28, 2024
Trump also criticized former Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam, saying, “He’s willing to, as we say, rip the baby out of the womb in the ninth month and kill the baby.”
In a 2019 interview, Northam was questioned about proposed state legislation that would remove the requirement for second or third-trimester abortions to be performed in a hospital and the need for three physicians to agree that a late-term abortion is medically necessary.
Northam supported the decision being made between families and their physician, rather than through legislation.
“When we talk about third-trimester abortions, these are done with the consent of the mother and the physician, and it’s done in cases where there may be severe deformities, or the fetus is nonviable,” Northam stated in the interview.
President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump clashed over abortion in the first presidential debate for the 2024 election Thursday night.
The two candidates traded barbs with one another when CNN moderator Dana Bash asked where they stood on abortion early on in the debate. Biden committed to restoring Roe v. Wade, the landmark Supreme Court decision that protected the right to abortion in the U.S. in 1973 and was overturned in 2022. Meanwhile, Trump, who has said that he wouldn’t sign a federal abortion ban but would let states monitor women’s pregnancies and prosecute people who violate their restrictive laws, applauded the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe while adding that he would support exceptions to abortion bans for rape, incest, and the life of the mother.
