Biden Twists Trump’s Comments on Tracking Pregnancies and Punishing Women Who Get Abortions

In an interview with Time, former President Donald Trump was asked, with the overturning of Roe v. Wade, if states should monitor women’s pregnancies and/or prosecute women who get an abortion in violation of state law. Trump said “they might,” but that’s for each state to decide.

In several campaign speeches, however, President Joe Biden has twisted Trump’s words, claiming that Trump said “states should monitor women’s pregnancies and prosecute those who violate abortion bans.” (Emphasis is ours.) In the Time interview, Trump said his opinion about what ought to happen is “totally irrelevant, because the states are going to make those decisions.”

Trump’s three appointments to the U.S. Supreme Court paved the way for overturning Roe v. Wade, the court’s 1973 decision establishing a constitutional right to abortion. Since the court overruled Roe in June 2022, the jurisdiction on abortion rights has returned to the states.