The discussion about abortion in the United States has intensified as the date of the presidential elections approaches, scheduled for November 5th this year. The proposals from candidates Donald Trump, from the Republican Party, and Kamala Harris, from the Democratic Party, currently reflect entirely opposing views on the issue.
While Harris is in favor of a federal law that ensures abortion as a “right” throughout the United States, Trump argues that the decision on the issue should be left to the states, as is currently being done.
Harris, current vice president in Joe Biden’s government, has been firmly in favor of abortion in this current presidential campaign. She is critical of the overturning of the case law in Roe v. Wade by the US Supreme Court, which, in 2022, in a historic pro-life victory, returned the autonomy to legislate on the subject to the states. The Democrat said the Supreme Court decision created a “horrible and heartbreaking reality” in the United States.
Following the Supreme Court ruling, 14 American states limited full access to abortion and four banned the procedure after six months of pregnancy.
The vice president defends that federal legislation – which must be sent to Congress – establishes the protection of abortion up to the sixth month of pregnancy. According to Harris, this is “essential” to ensuring that women have “autonomy over their bodies”.
However, Harris highlighted that the current composition of the Senate — with 47 Democrats, four independents who vote with the government and 49 Republicans — represents a major obstacle to the approval of a federal law on the topic. Therefore, during an interview, the vice president defended changing the rule that requires 60 votes to approve projects in the upper house. She proposed discussing with the Senate, if elected, the possibility of approving projects by a simple majority, which would favor Democrats and their initiatives related to abortion legislation.
“51 votes would be what we need to really put back into law the protections for reproductive freedom and for the ability of every person and every woman to make decisions about their own body and not have their government tell them what to do,” said the vice president in a recent interview.
On the other hand, Donald Trump has reiterated his position that the regulation of abortion should be a prerogative of the states. Trump claims that the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade was a reflection of what the population wanted. He and his deputy, JD Vance, have already signaled that they believe that the issue of abortion should be managed at the state level, supporting the idea that each state should have the power to legislate however it wants on the issue.
Trump has already stated that he would not sign a federal ban on abortion, as many American conservatives want. For him, a federal restriction on abortion would be too “radical”.
In the last debate, for example, the Republican said that “there is no reason to sign the ban because we already got what everyone wanted”, referring to the decision-making power handed over by the Supreme Court to the states.
This Tuesday (1st), during the vice debate, Trump wrote on social media that “everyone knows that I would not support a federal ban on abortion, under any circumstances, and, in fact, I would veto it, because it is up to the states to decide based on the will of their voters.”
His vice-president, Vance, accused Democrats during Tuesday’s debate of adopting a “very radical pro-abortion” stance, classifying some of the laws defended by the party as “barbaric” and reiterated Trump’s view that discussion of the issue should remain for the states.
“The right way to deal with this, as messed up as democracy sometimes is, is to let voters make those decisions,” Vance said. “Let the states decide their abortion policy,” he added.
While Trump supported certain abortion restrictions during his first term, he has currently been less clear about how he would approach the issue in a potential new administration.
In Florida, for example, the Republican has generated controversy, because he has already taken different positions on the plebiscite that should be voted on in November, which will ask citizens whether or not they are in favor of allowing abortion up to the sixth month of pregnancy. . First, Trump said he was in favor of allowing it in Florida, then backtracked and defended its ban.
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