President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris on Monday — the second anniversary of the Supreme Court overruling Roe v. Wade — took the offensive, launching blistering blows against former President Donald Trump on abortion rights, just three days ahead of Thursday’s debate.
“Trump has not denied much less shown remorse for his actions. Instead, he quote, ‘proudly’ takes credit for overturning Roe,” Harris said at an abortion rights rally in Maryland. “My fellow Americans, in a court of law that would be called an admission in the case of the stealing of reproductive freedom from the women of America. Donald Trump is guilty.”
Biden, Harris, the White House, and their campaign worked to center the fight on abortion, an issue that has galvanized voters in both red and blue states over the last two years, and that they view as critical to their chances at reelection in November.
Vice President Kamala Harris delivers remarks on reproductive rights at Ritchie Coliseum on the campus of the University of Maryland on June 24, 2024 in College Park, Md.
Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images
Biden’s surrogates fanned out around the country: Harris was traveling to Arizona for a roundtable on abortion after her Maryland rally; first lady Jill Biden is in Philadelphia for campaign events; and second gentleman Doug Emhoff has three campaign events across Michigan.
Biden himself is not on the trail to mark the Dobbs anniversary; he is instead at Camp David where he has been since last Thursday and is taking part in debate prep with over a dozen aides, including standing for full 90-minutes mock debates, ahead of his showdown with Trump later this week. But the president did comment on abortion access.
“Two years ago today, Donald Trump’s Supreme Court majority ripped away the fundamental freedom for women to access the health care they need and deserve,” Biden said in a statement, adding that “the consequences have been devastating.”
Biden later said, “Donald Trump is the sole person responsible for this nightmare.”
In a video posted to social media, Biden read from a post by Trump taking credit for being able to “kill Roe v. Wade” and said: “Decades of progress shattered just because the last guy got four years in the White House.”
“We know what will happen if he gets another four. For MAGA Republicans, Roe is just the beginning,” Biden argued. “They’re going to try to ban the right to choose nationwide. They’re coming for IVF and birth control next.”
The Biden campaign rolled out a TV ad featuring Kaitlyn Joshua, a woman from Louisiana, telling of her experience with abortion bans and laying blame at Trump’s feet.
“I was right around 11 weeks when I had a miscarriage. The pain that I was feeling was excruciating. And I was turned away from 2 emergency rooms,” Joshua said. “That was a direct result of Donald Trump overturning Roe v. Wade.”
The ad is part of a larger $50 million advertising blitz the campaign rolled out earlier this month.
Former U.S. President and Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks at the Faith and Freedom Coalition’s ‘Road to Majority’ policy conference in Washington, June 22, 2024.
Evelyn Hockstein/Reuters
Over the weekend at a Faith & Freedom conference, Trump continued to boast that he picked three Supreme Court Justices who voted to overrule Roe, saying that although they took a lot of “heat” over the decision, it was the “right” choice.
“I with stood vicious attacks to pick and confirm three great Supreme Court justices,” he said. “We have also achieved what the pro-life movement fought to get for 49 years and we’ve gotten abortion out of the federal government and back to the states.”
The Trump campaign on Monday pushed back on the Biden team’s coordinated messaging against the former president.
Karoline Leavitt, a Trump campaign spokesperson, labeled Biden, Harris and Democrats as “radical extremists” in a statement, accusing them of supporting “taxpayer funded abortions up until birth.”
It’s an accusation the White House flatly denied Monday.
“The president and the vice president do not support abortion up until the time of birth, nor do they support abortion after birth, in fact, that’s not abortion,” Jennifer Klein, the director of the White House Gender Policy Council, said on a call with reporters.
Leavitt, Trump’s spokesperson, also said the Democrats “lie about President Trump’s position on this issue in a desperate attempt to scare voters. The truth is that the Dobbs Decision returned the power back to the people in every respective state to make decisions on the issue of abortion.”
She later added: “President Trump also strongly supports ensuring women have access to the care they need to create healthy families, including widespread access to IVF, birth control, and contraception, and he always will.”
Vice President Kamala Harris embraces Kate Cox, the Texas woman who was denied an abortion last year, as she arrives on state to deliver deliver remarks on reproductive rights at Ritchie Coliseum on the campus of the University of Maryland on June 24, 2024 in College Park, Md.
Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images
Congressional Republicans this month blocked bills that would protect IVF and contraception, claiming they were Democratic election-year messaging. It’s a move White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre slammed on Monday as “extreme,” “out of touch” and “wrong.”
At her rally, Harris was introduced by Kate Cox, a Texas woman who left her state to get an abortion after being told by her doctor that her life was at risk and who was one of the first lady’s guests at this year’s State of the Union address.
“Today, I’m happy to share that I’m pregnant again,” Cox said to cheers. “I hope that by then, when we welcome our baby to the world, it will be a world led by Joe Biden and Kamala Harris.”
ABC News’ Lalee Ibssa contributed to this report.
Just three days before the highly anticipated debate on the anniversary of the landmark Dobbs decision, Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden and his running mate, Kamala Harris, have taken a strong stance against President Trump’s position on abortion rights. The Dobbs decision, which was handed down by the Supreme Court in 1973, legalized abortion nationwide and has been a hotly debated topic ever since.
In a joint statement released by the Biden-Harris campaign, the two candidates criticized Trump for his efforts to restrict access to abortion and overturn Roe v. Wade, the landmark Supreme Court decision that affirmed a woman’s right to choose. They accused the president of trying to roll back decades of progress on women’s reproductive rights and vowed to protect and expand access to safe and legal abortion if elected.
Biden and Harris also took aim at Trump’s recent nomination of Judge Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court, warning that her confirmation could tip the balance of the court against abortion rights. They called on Senate Republicans to delay the confirmation process until after the election, arguing that the American people should have a say in who gets to fill the vacant seat on the nation’s highest court.
The timing of Biden and Harris’s statement is significant, coming just days before the first presidential debate on the anniversary of the Dobbs decision. The debate, which will be held on September 30th, is expected to cover a wide range of topics, including healthcare and the Supreme Court. With abortion rights likely to be a key issue in the upcoming election, both candidates are eager to make their positions clear to voters.
As the debate approaches, it is clear that the issue of abortion rights will continue to be a major point of contention between the two parties. While Trump has consistently sought to restrict access to abortion and appoint conservative judges who may be inclined to overturn Roe v. Wade, Biden and Harris have promised to protect and expand women’s reproductive rights if elected. The outcome of the election could have far-reaching implications for the future of abortion rights in America, making it a crucial issue for voters to consider as they head to the polls in November.
