Kamala Harris got the abortion answer at the Trump debate

Harris responded by saying that more than 20 states have sincWe passed “Trump’s abortion bans,” including some that have no 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 statewide abortion bans have affected reproductive rights.

“Do you want to talk about what people wanted? Pregnant women who want to carry a pregnancy to term, who suffer a miscarriage, are denied care in an emergency room because health care providers fear she could go to jail and she bleeds out in a car in -a parking lot She didn’t want that, her husband didn’t, Harris said.

Harris said that as president, he 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, particularly the freedom to make decisions about your own body, should not be taken away by the government,” Harris added.

Her impassioned response is likely to resonate with many Americans, as 63 percent believe abortion should be legal in all or most cases, according to the Pew Research Center poll.

Abortion is also a winning issue for Democrats and was important for turnout in states where abortion referendums were on the ballot. President Joe Biden, in particular, botched his abortion answer during his debate with Trump before dropping out of the race.

Trump in 2016 unleashed evangelical voters by running on an anti-abortion platform, and his Supreme Court selections of Justices Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh, and Amy Coney Barrett only strengthened his already strong position among conservatives—especially after they have voted. to overturn Roe in 2022.

But Trump in 2020 has rattled groups of suburban voters, especially those in many 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 strong voice in support of reproductive rights, and it’s an issue on which, poll after poll, voters trust her the most — a dynamic that could cause an electoral hiccup for Trump in November.