Former President Donald Trump renewed his criticism of then-Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam on late-term abortion during his debate Tuesday night with Vice President Kamala Harris.
Trump started by botching the state that Northam led — later correcting himself — then made what fact checkers called distortions about infanticide.
Trump’s comments came 13 minutes into the debate, when he was asked about his shifting stances on abortion, particularly his recent comments about Florida’s upcoming referendum, which would restore abortion rights until viability. Florida currently bars most abortions after six weeks. Trump had initially said that six weeks was not enough time, then said that he would vote against the ballot initiative.
“They have abortion in the ninth month,” Trump said during the debate Tuesday night. “They even have — and you can look at the governor of West Virginia — the previous governor of West Virginia, not the current governor, who’s doing an excellent job — but the governor before, he said the baby will be born and we will decide what to do with the baby, in other words, we’ll execute the baby.”
“And that’s why I did that, because that predominates,” Trump said, “because they’re radical, the Democrats are radical in that.”
Trump did get Virginia right on a subsequent reference to the controversy, saying: “The governor of Virginia said we put the baby aside and then we determine what we want to do with the baby.”
Trump’s renewed criticism stemmed from comments Northam, a pediatric neurologist, made in a January 2019 appearance on radio station WTOP.
The governor had been asked about a defeated bill sponsored by Del. Kathy Tran, D-Fairfax, that would have loosened restrictions on third-trimester abortions. Northam said that if a nonviable or badly deformed infant survived birth, a woman and her doctor could have a “discussion” about what to do next.
During the debate Trump also accused Harris’ running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, of saying “abortion in the ninth month is absolutely fine” and that “execution after birth” is “OK, and that’s not OK with me.”
Linsey Davis, one of ABC’s two debate moderators, followed Trump’s comments by saying: “There is no state in this country where it is legal to kill a baby after it’s born.”
CNN’s debate fact checkers wrote: “Trump’s claim about infanticide is false. No state allows for the execution of a baby after it is born.”
They quoted Mary Ziegler, a professor at the University of California, Davis School of Law, who said in June: “Every state explicitly criminalizes infanticide.”
Factcheck.org wrote: “The former president repeatedly said Democrats, including vice presidential candidate Tim Walz, were in favor of abortion ‘in the ninth month’ — or even after birth. Abortion that late is exceedingly rare, and abortion after birth does not exist. It’s homicide, and it’s illegal.”
Trump also again falsely claimed that legal scholars across the political spectrum “every Democrat, every Republican, liberal, conservative” wanted Roe v. Wade overturned, and the abortion issue sent back to the states.
Northam’s 2019 comments
During the 2019 radio appearance on WTOP, Northam said: “When we talk about third-trimester abortions, these are done with the consent of, obviously, the mother, with the consent of the physicians — more than one physician, by the way — and it’s done in cases where there may be severe deformities, there may be a fetus that’s nonviable.
“So, in this particular example, if a mother’s in labor, I can tell you exactly what would happen,” Northam said. “The infant would be delivered, the infant would be kept comfortable, the infant would be resuscitated if that’s what the mother and the family desired, and then a discussion would ensue between the physicians and the mother.”
Northam’s comments prompted outrage from some conservatives. He later stood by his comments, saying he was speaking as a doctor who has had conversations with parents in situations in which there is no hope for survival.
Tran’s bill would have reduced the number of doctors required to sign off on a late-term abortion from three to one.
During a committee hearing, Del. Todd Gilbert, R-Shenandoah, had asked Tran whether her bill would let a pregnant woman who is dilating seek an abortion if a physician certified that her mental health was impaired.
“My bill would allow that, yes,” Tran said.
Tran later told The Washington Post that she misspoke. “I should have said: ‘Clearly, no, because infanticide is not allowed in Virginia, and what would have happened in that moment would be a live birth.’”
Trump, then president, told The Daily Caller at the time that the Virginia controversy “is going to lift up the whole pro-life movement like maybe it’s never been lifted up before.”
Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump and Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris participate during an ABC News presidential debate at the National Constitution Center, Tuesday, Sept.10, 2024, in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)