One of the topics raised early on in the ABC News presidential debate was on the politically and socially charged issue of abortion. Donald Trump sought to defend his position of leaving abortion policy up to the states, while Kamala Harris tried to claim that her opponent is in favor of a national ban.
Harris also suggested that women experiencing pregnancy complications in the United States are being denied care because healthcare providers are worried about the scope of abortion laws. That generalization has led some in the medical community to call the vice president out for spreading “misinformation.”
On Wednesday’s show, Megyn was joined by the hosts of The Fifth Column – Kmele Foster, Michael Moynihan, and Matt Welch – to discuss Harris’ fear mongering and how she was able to get away with it during the debate.
Trump vs. Harris
Moderators David Muir and Linsey Davis were not afraid to ‘correct’ Trump at various points during the debate, including on the topic of abortion. After the former president brought up the issue of late-term abortions and babies being left to die in the wake of failed procedures in states like Virginia under former Gov. Ralph Northam, Davis attempted a fact-check. “There is no state in this country where it is legal to kill a baby after it’s born,” she said.
At that point, Davis turned her attention to Harris and asked for her “response” to Trump’s answer. The Democratic hopeful said, in part:
HARRIS: I have talked with women around our country. You want to talk about this is what people wanted? Pregnant women who want to carry a pregnancy to term suffering from a miscarriage, being denied care in an emergency room because the health care providers are afraid they might go to jail and she’s bleeding out in a car in the parking lot? She didn’t want that. Her husband didn’t want that. A 12 or 13-year-old survivor of incest being forced to carry a pregnancy to term? They don’t want that. And I pledge to you when Congress passes a bill to put back in place the protections of Roe v. Wade as president of the United States, I will proudly sign it into law. But understand, if Donald Trump were to be re-elected, he will sign a national abortion ban.
She went on to cite Project 2025 as her proof for the abortion ban, even though Trump has been on the record disavowing both. What she did not offer proof of was her anecdote about women being denied care, and the accusation did not sit well with some healthcare providers.
A Nurse Reacts
A nurse in Virginia named Katie was a guest on 2Way Morning Meeting on Wednesday with Mark Halperin, Sean Spicer, and Tim Hogan and took issue with Harris’ characterization.
She shared she was a Trump voter in 2016 and 2020 but does not plan to vote for him in 2024. She said she went into the debate hoping she “could hear from Kamala a reason to vote for her,” yet she ended up tuning out after 37 minutes because she “couldn’t take it anymore.”
Part of the reason was the vice president’s response to the abortion question. “The thing that pushed me over the edge of not voting for her is… I’m an emergency room nurse and there is no circumstance where we would ever let a woman sit in her car and bleed out regardless of the abortion law,” Katie explained. “Even if abortion was illegal, we would bring her in and give her emergency release blood. We would give her fluids.”
She said she was “turned off” by “the fact that [Harris] so blatantly gave such disgusting medical misinformation” – and it is enough to keep her from voting for either candidate. “They’re both liars, but to scare the public like that is unacceptable to me,” Katie shared. “Definitively, after last night, I am supporting no one.” She said she still plans to vote in down ballot races though.
Hogan, who is a Democratic strategist, said he believes Harris was referencing an Associated Press report from early this year that looked into whether women in states like Texas, North Carolina, and Florida were denied care.
‘It Is Unfair’
As Megyn noted, Harris “got very high marks for her answer on abortion and playing up, like, the horrible dangers of women who are now in states where there are new, very restrictive abortion laws.” That answer in particular employed a tactic Megyn said she used throughout the debate, which was to make “these sweeping, draconian claims about Trump.”
Those charges from Harris would go unchecked, but Trump was regularly (and erroneously) corrected. “Meanwhile, his suggestion that there are states in the union where they would let a baby born alive die that’s true… gets fact-checked,” Megyn added. “Good for this woman for getting on there and saying that’s bullsh-t and a total turnoff.”
Trump attempted to correct the record against Harris’ claims on and force her to answer for where she stands on late-term abortion, but the moderators moved on without asking her to answer. In Foster’s view, it was indicative of what Trump had to battle all night.
“It is unfair when you’re in a circumstance where the moderators are not willing to fact-check your opponent, they’re not willing to push back, and they’re requiring you to do all of this work,” he said. “And then when you have things to say, they’re pushing back on you. It is unfair.”
You can check out Megyn’s full interview with The Fifth Column by tuning in to episode 885 on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you like to listen. And don’t forget that you can catch The Megyn Kelly Show live on SiriusXM’s Triumph (channel 111) weekdays from 12pm to 2pm ET.