Biden rips into Trump over abortion statement

Joe Biden’s advisers didn’t know if Donald Trump would ever offer up a formal policy on abortion.

But when the moment finally arrived, they were ready.

Trump’s announcement on Monday that he supports leaving the debate about abortion restrictions to the states sparked a torrent of political attacks, with Biden and his allies accusing their GOP rival of ushering in “cruelty and chaos” in the post-Roe v. Wade era.

The offensive marked a new phase in the Biden team’s bid to make reproductive rights the defining issue of the presidential race. In addition to accusing Trump of paving the way for Roe’s elimination, Democrats on Monday sought to tie him directly to the harshest state abortion laws — and their real-life consequences.

“Trump once said women must be punished for seeking reproductive health care — and he’s gotten his wish,” Biden said in a statement released by his reelection campaign. “Women are being turned away from emergency rooms, forced to go to court to seek permission for the medical attention they need, and left to travel hundreds of miles for health care.”

That was just the opening act. Kaitlyn Kash, who was forced to leave Texas for an abortion after learning her baby had a severe condition and was unlikely to survive birth, joined a separate Biden press call on Monday alongside campaign manager Julie Chávez Rodriguez to highlight the consequences of a patchwork abortion policy.

Shortly thereafter, the Biden campaign put out a new digital ad spotlighting “Amanda,” another Texas woman who suffered a miscarriage and nearly died after doctors refused to perform an abortion. “Trump did this,” the campaign said in a post to Biden’s account.

Across the country, Democrats moved swiftly to capitalize on the opening that Trump provided in a nearly four-and-a-half minute video where the former president took credit for gutting Roe, and argued that individual states should determine when and how harshly to restrict access to abortion.

Prior to the announcement, Trump had come under intense pressure to stake out a clear position after toying for weeks with endorsing a blanket 15-week ban. Trump has privately fretted that the issue is politically toxic for Republicans, especially if they don’t come out in support of exemptions for the life and health of the mother.

“Trump’s statement provided Republicans much needed clarity on this issue," said Nicole McCleskey, a Republican pollster. "He helped put it to rest by saying, ‘leave it to the states,’ which is what majorities of voters agree with."

Yet in the immediate aftermath, casting the issue as a state-level decision opened up the former president to criticism from all sides. Anti-abortion activists expressed disappointment with Trump for not coming out for a national policy.

And Biden allies, wary of letting Trump cast his abortion position as a moderate one, emphasized that he had made little attempt to distance himself from the strictest abortion measures around the country.

"Let's be clear, Trump is not only extremely proud of overturning Roe v. Wade, he supports the nightmarish abortion bans happening in states across the country," Michigan Democratic Party Chair Lavora Barnes said in a statement.

Democrats also seized on what Trump didn't say — namely, that he did not explicitly rule out signing a nationwide abortion ban if elected, and refused to condemn states that had banned abortion without exceptions.

In a sign of how critically Biden's team views the moment, Biden campaign officials kicked off Monday's press call with an extended admonishment of initial media reports they argued mistakenly indicated that Trump was opposing a national abortion ban.

"His allies do have a plan to ban abortion nationally, without ever going to Congress," Chávez Rodriguez said, pointing to GOP efforts to restrict medication abortion.

Biden in his own statement said there should "be no illusion. If Donald Trump is elected and the MAGA Republicans in Congress put a national abortion ban on the Resolute Desk, Trump will sign it into law."

The president singled out Florida’s plan to impose a six-week abortion ban, noting it as an example of a state-level abortion restriction that would make the procedure “illegal before many women know they’re pregnant.”

Trump, who is a Florida resident, has not said whether he supports the state ban and did not address the issue in his video.

Biden, despite having exhibited some discomfort in talking about abortion in the past, has repeatedly vowed to restore Roe v. Wade with legislation if given the chance. He has cast the election as an existential moment for women's reproductive freedoms. That stance has also offered a sharp contrast with Trump and Republicans, who have struggled for nearly two years to find a tenable consensus for where they stand following the Supreme Court’s Dobbs decision.

“Having created the chaos of overturning Roe, he’s trying to say, ‘Oh, never mind. Don’t punish me for that. I just want to win,” Biden said.