Biden's stance that he would codify Roe v/s Wade has misconstrued, and Harris believes when to carry out an abortion should be left up to a woman.
Trump might have been referring to a bill proposed last year by Democrats in the Virginia legislature, which was unsuccessful. The bill sought to make it easier for women to obtain abortions late in pregnancy if the mother's physical health or safety were at risk. The proposed legislation prompted Senator Ted Cruz, a Republican from Texas, to falsely claim that Democrats support abortion up until the moment of birth. Many other Republicans, including Vice President Mike Pence, have echoed the claim.
During the 2020 Presidential debates, Biden said that he would codify Roe v/s Wade, the Supreme Court ruling that had made abortion legal nationwide, into federal law, this would limit abortions to the first 20 to 24 weeks of gestation. In their 2020 party platform, the Democrats have noted that they believe every woman should be able to access high-quality reproductive health care services, including safe and legal abortion. But that does not mean the Democrats, or Joe Biden, call for women to have an unfettered right to terminate pregnancies up until the point of birth.
Supreme Court's rulings in Roe and Planned Parenthood v. Casey say states may ban abortion after the fetus reaches viability, the point at which it can sustain life, which happens at or near the end of the second trimester. However, states with such bans must allow an exception to preserve the life or health of the mother. When the Washington Post asked whether Biden supported restrictions, a Biden campaign representative told them that Biden believes in the terms laid out by Roe and Casey. The Post also states that around 1% of abortions happen after the point of viability, so the cases at issue in this claim would be relatively rare.
Kamala Harris was a co-sponsor of the 2019 Women’s Health Protection Act (WHPA), that prohibited state laws banning post-viability abortions that do not make exceptions if a woman’s health and life are at risk. Harris also supports an individual’s right to choose when to terminate a pregnancy. She has made statements strongly opposing the states which restrict the abortion time to less than 20 weeks. However, Harris has not exactly stated that she supports the termination of a pregnancy at any time just before the child’s birth, as she said that it’s up to a woman to make that decision. She thinks it should be up to the woman who needs to decide with her doctor, with her priest, with her husband, when to have an abortion. However, Harris does support an abortion closer to the birth of a child only if the delivery posed a risk to the mother’s health.
Based on the evidence listed, we conclude that this claim is misleading. Neither Biden nor Harris believe in or support abortions up to birth.
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