Kamala Harris nailed her debate response on the Democrats' most winning issue: abortion
Win McNamee/Getty Images
- Kamala Harris criticized Donald Trump on abortion during the presidential debate Tuesday.
- She looked directly at Trump during an impassioned response about the consequences of abortion bans.
- Harris said she would restore Roe v. Wade. Trump wouldn't say if he'd sign a national abortion ban.
Vice President Kamala Harris hammered former President Donald Trump on abortion during the presidential debate on Tuesday, invoking real-world consequences of abortion bans.
Trump noted his success in appointing Supreme Court justices that ultimately overturned Roe v. Wade, arguing that "everyone" wanted it and that the issue should be left up to the states. (In the summer of 2022, a Pew Research survey found that 57% of adults disapproved of the SCOTUS decision.)
Harris responded by saying more than 20 states have since passed "Trump abortion bans," including some that do not have exceptions for rape or incest, calling the bans "immoral."
During the exchange, the vice president looked directly at Trump with a powerful response that included specific examples of how state-level abortion bans have impacted reproductive rights.
"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 healthcare providers are afraid they might go to jail, and she's bleeding out in a car in a parking lot? She didn't want that. Her husband didn't want that," Harris said.
Harris said that as president, she would sign legislation that would codify Roe v. Wade into law. Trump, for his part, declined to say whether he would sign a national abortion ban.
"I think the American people believe that certain freedoms, in particular the freedom to make decisions about one's own body, should not be made by the government," Harris added.
Her impassioned response is likely to resonate with many Americans, as 63% believe abortion should be legal in all or most cases, according to Pew Research Center polling.
Abortion is also a winning issue for Democrats and has been important for turnout in states where abortion referendums have been on the ballot. President Joe Biden, notably, botched his answer on abortion during his debate with Trump before he dropped out of the race.
Trump, in 2016, turned out evangelical voters by running on an anti-abortion platform, and his selections of Justices Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh, and Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court only solidified his already strong standing among conservatives — especially after they voted to overturn Roe in 2022.
But Trump in 2020 faltered among swaths of suburban voters, notably those in many onetime GOP strongholds in states like Arizona and Georgia. While most Republicans that year stuck with Trump, independents and a small bloc of more moderate Republicans helped Biden find success in the Sun Belt.
Harris has been a powerful voice in advocating for reproductive rights, and it's an issue that, in poll after poll, is the one that voters trust her most on — a dynamic that could cause electoral hiccups for Trump in November.