Abortion and the Presidential Debates: Misinformation and Christian Responsibility

 By John Stonestreet and Jared Hayden - Posted at Breakpoint:

The first debate between U.S. Presidential candidates Donald Trump and Kamala Harris made clear, again, that abortion is a front and center issue in this election. It also made clear that each candidate is more committed to a narrative about the preborn than the truth. Harris defended abortion by emotionally appealing to extreme cases that are either unlike the vast majority of abortions, like minors who are victims of sexual abuse, or flatly misleading, such as women who are refused care for miscarriages.

Trump attempted to distance himself from the issue. He again took credit for “the impossible,” the overturning of Roe and the returning of the issue of abortion to the states. He said that he supported abortion in cases of the exceptions of rape, incest, and the health of the mother, but he did not discuss abortion as evil as he did in 2016. He emphasized that voters were now free to decide if abortion should be legal where they live.

Trump rightly pointed out that under Roe, abortion was legal in the third trimester. Harris denied this claim, arguing that “no woman is carrying a pregnancy to term and asking for abortion.” In fact, under Roe v. Wade, there was nothing prohibiting late term abortions at the federal level. Today, in nine states plus Washington, D.C., late term abortion remains legal. In 2023, according to investigative research from Live Action, an estimated 10,370 pre-born babies were aborted after 21 weeks of pregnancy. That’s 28 third-trimester babies per day.

When Trump claimed that babies were being “slaughtered” after birth, debate moderator Linsey Davis jumped in to “fact check” Trump, stating, “There is no state in this country where it is legal to kill a baby after it’s born.” Contrary to this “fact check,” and though “slaughter” is not the right word, there are states in which babies have been and are allowed to die post-birth.

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Full Debate: Harris vs. Trump in 2024 ABC News Presidential Debate | WSJ (youtube.com)