Biden, Trump tangle over abortion, Roe v. Wade at debate

President Biden and former President Trump sparred over abortion and the role of Roe v. Wade, one of the main political topics of the past couple years, early on in their first debate of the 2024 election. 

Trump sought to emphasize his role in the overturning of Roe, which protected a federal right to abortion, in 2022 and argue that the issue should be left to the states to decide, while Biden slammed him and accused him of threatening women’s reproductive rights. 

Trump said he agreed with the Supreme Court’s decision upholding the Food and Drug Administration’s approval of the abortion pill mifepristone, which is used in a majority of abortions nationally. 

“I agree with their decision to have done that, and I will not block it,” he said. 

He repeated his past claims that “everybody” from both parties wanted the issue of abortion returned to the states. 

“Now the states are working it out,” he continued, adding that the country is “coming together on this issue.” 

Biden responded that the court’s ruling in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, which overturned Roe, was a “terrible thing” and argued that Trump’s claim that everyone was opposed to Roe is “ridiculous.” 

“The idea that states are able to [ban abortion] is a little like saying we’re going to turn civil rights back to the states,” he said. 

Trump said some states are taking more liberal policies or more conservative policies but are “voting” on the issue. 

Biden emphasized his support for Roe, which ensured a right to abortion for a certain stages of pregnancy with states permitted to enact restrictions for late-term abortions, to a question from moderator Dana Bash about restrictions he supports. 

Biden has previously said he’s not “big” on abortion as a practicing Catholic but thinks Roe “got it right.” 

The discussion came on the same day that the Supreme Court released its ruling requiring federally funded hospitals in Idaho to allow abortions in cases of medical emergencies.