While there weren’t a lot of contentious moments at the CBS News vice presidential debate between Ohio Sen. J.D. Vance and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, there were some unexpected ones.
Case in point: Vance putting Walz on the spot about what the abortion legislation he signed into law in the North Star State actually allows for. There was no pushback from moderators Norah O’Donnell or Margaret Brennan when the governor misrepresented the law, but, on Wednesday’s show, Megyn came prepared to set the record straight.
The Controversy
Abortion is typically an area where Democrats are seen to have the upper hand, but Vance actually managed to get Walz on his heels. “J.D. was like a surgeon cutting with precision into the bullshit being offered by Tim Walz,” Megyn said. “And one of my favorite moments was when he described Tim Walz’ law that repealed a law that required the care of infants born alive after botched abortions.”
Here’s how the exchange went:
VANCE: You’re free to disagree with me on this and explain this to me, but, as I read the Minnesota… statute that you signed into law, it says that a doctor who presides over an abortion where the baby survives, the doctor is under no obligation to provide life-saving care to a baby who survives a botched late-term abortion. That is, I think, whether you are pro-choice or pro-life… fundamentally barbaric.
WALZ: That is not true… These are women’s decisions to make about their healthcare decisions and the physicians who know best when they need to do this. Trying to distort the way a law is written to try and make a point, that’s not it at all.
VANCE: But what was I wrong about, governor? Please, tell me. What was I wrong about?
WALZ: Because that’s not the way the law is written… That’s been misread, and it was fact checked at the last debate. But the point on this is there is a continuation of these guys to try and tell women or to get involved…
In case you don’t remember, Donald Trump raised this same issue at the ABC News presidential debate last month. “Her vice presidential pick says abortion in the ninth month is absolutely fine,” the GOP nominee said of Walz. “He also says execution after birth – it’s execution, no longer abortion because the baby is born – is okay.”
That led to one of the many ‘fact checks’ of the night from moderator Linsey Davis. “There is no state in this country where it’s legal to kill a baby after it’s born,” she said.
The Real Fact Check
Megyn called out Walz’s characterization of the Minnesota law. “It is utterly dishonest because that [ABC News] ‘fact check’ completely ignored that it is legal to let an infant die on the table after you attempted to kill it in the womb but it nonetheless survived thanks to Tim Walz,” she said.
When you look at the Minnesota law, there are a few issues at play. For starters, there had been a state law on the books since 1976 that required life-saving medical care be provided to any baby born alive after a botched abortion.
Specifically, it said “responsible medical personnel” must use “[a]ll reasonable measures consistent with good medical practice” to “preserve the life and health of the born alive infant.”
The legislation Walz signed in May 2023 removed the “preserve” language so that it now states: “All reasonable measures consistent with good medical practice… shall be taken by the responsible medical personnel to care for the infant who is born alive.”
The law essentially creates the distinction between life-saving care and comfort care. “Tim Walz repealed that law and changed it to just comfort care,” Megyn explained. “You can let the baby die. You do not need to save that baby’s life.”
But there is another piece to this as well. Back in 2015, Minnesota enacted the Born-Alive Infants Protection Act that required the state Department of Health to produce an annual report stating the number of infants born alive after a failed abortion and what happened to them.
Between 2015 and 2022, the National Catholic Register reported 24 babies were born alive and later died, but it is unclear how many cases have arisen since 2023 because the act that required the report was repealed as part of the new abortion legislation.
“[Walz] said you don’t have to save their lives, and you don’t have to tell us when this happens. Those are the facts,” Megyn concluded. “He was allowed to get away with this – there was no attempted fact check by the CBS moderators on that. They only had them in pocket for J.D. Vance.”
You can check out Megyn’s full analysis by tuning in to episode 904 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.