Donald Trump’s rants about abortion during tonight’s presidential debate were truly horrific to watch in real-time, even by the standards he’s set for himself. The issue of reproductive health came up and it was especially relevant since it is Trump’s fault that Roe v. Wade was overturned.
The ultra-conservative Supreme Court’s Dobbs decision was a horrible one that rolled back rights in a way that has had very inhumane consequences. Most Americans regardless of party think that abortion should be legal in all or most cases. But the extremists took that right away. Trump couldn’t meander his way out of the fact that his positions on abortion are not popular.
When asked, he lauded the three Supreme Court Justices that he appointed, who all played a part in overturning Roe v. Wade. Most people do not agree with that decision so it seems like an odd strategy for Trump. Anyway, he also included some of the most deplorable, graphic, and fundamentally untrue talking points from the right-wing playbook. Trump is happy that this fundamental rights issue is being left up to the states. Does this sound like segregationist rhetoric or not? What has happened is that we see the disproportionate impacts of this state’s rights argument. Many in the South and Midwest are having to travel extreme lengths to get adequate reproductive healthcare. This is also unequally impacting poor and middle-class women and BIPOC people. The states’ rights crap doesn’t sound as harsh to the ear, but the views behind it are just as bad.
He also repeated the malarkey (to use a Bidenism) that babies are just “ripped” from the womb and killed even after birth sometimes! This is just a disgusting lie. That would amount to actual murder, which, FYI, is already illegal. He said that Roe allowed for these actions, just taking the lives of babies post-9 months gestation. And what was horrible is that, as with the whole night, no one fact-checked him but Biden. And all Biden really did was state the fact that Roe didn’t allow for that. He needed to press much harder to get the point across that the things he’s describing do not happen, they are conservative lies. (He also needs not to use anti-abortion rhetoric! Remember, “late-term abortion” is not a thing.)
Meanwhile, the moderators just sat there and let him repeat these harmful lies. I live in NC and we have started seeing a flood of ads targeting politicians for their anti-abortion stances. One of the political affiliates of Planned Parenthood here locally is operating the largest campaign they ever have done because they think this is such a good strategy politically. I hope we see more of this nationally and especially in other swing states because the issue of abortion will undoubtedly play a very large role in the election—and hopefully in Biden’s favor, but he needs to step up and shut down these lies when he has the chance.
