Vice Presidential Debate: Abortion, Gun Violence and Obamacare Make Appearances

Abortion, gun violence and Obamacare all took center stage Tuesday night as vice presidential candidates Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz (Democrat) and Sen. J.D. Vance (Ohio Republican ), took the stage in New York for their only debate of the campaign.

“I grew up in a working-class family in a neighborhood where I knew a lot of young women who had unplanned pregnancies and decided to terminate their pregnancies because they felt like they had no other options,” Vance said during the debate. , which was hosted by CBS.

He mentioned a friend who told him, “a few years ago, that she felt like if she hadn’t had an abortion it would have destroyed her life because she was in an abusive relationship.” And I think what I take away from that, as a Republican who proudly wants to protect innocent life in this country, who proudly wants to protect the vulnerable, is that my party, we have to do much better to regain trust of the American people on this issue where they simply don’t trust us. »

“I want us, as the Republican Party, to be pro-family in the full sense of the word,” Vance added. “I want us to support fertility treatments. I want us to make it easier for moms to afford to have babies…I think there’s so much we can do in terms of public policies simply to be able to give women more options.

Reversal Roe v. Wade

Walz pointed out that Vance’s running mate, former President Donald Trump, bragged about appointing Supreme Court justices who helped overturn the plan. Roe v. Wadethe 1973 Supreme Court decision that legalized abortion nationwide.

“And then he tells us that transmitting (abortion decisions) to the states is ‘a beautiful thing,’” Walz said. “Amanda Zurawski would disagree with you that it’s a beautiful thing.”

Zurawski, a newlywed from Texas, was 18 weeks pregnant when she suffered a complication, but she was unable to have an abortion because it would have put the doctors who performed the procedure in legal jeopardy due to the strict ban of abortion by the State, Walz. said. “She came home, got sepsis, almost died and now she may have difficulty having children. Or, in Kentucky, a 12-year-old is raped and made pregnant by her stepfather. These are horrible (cases).”

“Now when (the moderator) asked about this, Senator Vance responded that two wrongs don’t make a right,” Walz said. “There is no right. (They say) it’s up to the states to decide what’s good for Texas, what may not be good for Washington. That’s not how it works. “

Vance and Walz also discussed the case of Amber Thurman. “Amber Thurman was in Georgia, a restrictive state” when it comes to abortion, Walz said. “Because of this, she had to travel a long distance to North Carolina to try to get treatment. Amber Thurman died during that round trip…How can we, as nation, saying that your life and your rights – as basic as the right to control one’s own body – are determined by geography. Is there a real chance that if Amber Thurman lived in Minnesota (where abortion is legal),? she would be alive today.”

Dispute over Minnesota law

Vance agreed that “Amber Thurman should still be alive, and there are a lot of people who should still be alive.” Vance then introduced a Minnesota bill that Walz signed. “The doctor who presides over an abortion in which the baby survives has no obligation to provide life-saving care to a baby who survives a botched late-term abortion,” Vance said.

“That’s not true,” Walz interjected; however, he provided no further explanation of what the law said. In fact, the law Walz signed in May 2023 updated a state law relating to “born-alive infants.” Previously, according to ABC7 In Chicago, Minnesota, the law states: “All reasonable measures consistent with good medical practice, including the compilation of appropriate medical records, shall be taken by responsible medical personnel to preserve life and health of the infant born alive. » The law was updated to stipulate that medical personnel must “take care of the infant who is born alive.” The update also retained a provision that reads: “An infant born alive shall be fully recognized as a human person and shall be afforded immediate protection under the law.” »

Moderator Norah O’Donnell also asked Vance why he changed his mind about supporting a national ban on abortion after initially saying he supported a ban after 15 weeks of gestation. “I have never supported a national ban,” Vance responded. “I spoke when I was running for Senate in 2022 about establishing a minimum national standard.” But on a 2022 podcast, Vance said, “I would certainly like to see abortion be illegal nationally.”

Committee on Gun Violence

The topic of gun violence brought some agreement between the two candidates, with Vance saying, “I think Governor Walz and I probably agree that we need to do better in this area.” He also said he trusts local law enforcement to make decisions on how to reduce the problem. When it comes to gun crimes, “the vast majority are committed with illegally obtained firearms,” Vance said. “Thanks to (Vice President) Harris’ open borders, we have seen a massive influx of illegal weapons run by Mexican drug cartels.”

“What are we doing about schools? And I say that without liking the answer… I think unfortunately we need to increase security in our schools; we need to improve door locks… and increase the number of school resource officers,” Vance said. said.

Walz, on the other hand, emphasized the use of enhanced background checks and “red flag” laws that take guns away from people who may be a danger to themselves or others. “I have a 17-year-old and he witnessed a shooting at a community center while he was playing volleyball,” Walz said. “Look, I’m a hunter. I own guns, so does the vice president. We understand the Second Amendment exists, but our first responsibility is to our children. In Minnesota, we’ve enacted stronger signal laws alarms, strengthened background checks, and we can start getting data But here’s the problem: we have people who won’t even allow research to be done on gun violence.

Walz appeared to be referring to the Dickey Amendment, a law enacted in 1997 that prevented the CDC from advocating for gun control. The practical effect of the law, however, was that the CDC stopped conducting research on gun violence altogether. Finally, in 2020, Congress began appropriating funds for gun violence research again.

Regarding the Affordable Care Act (ACA), “I think you can make the case that (former President Trump) saved Obamacare, which was working disastrously until Donald Trump came along,” said Vance. “When Obamacare collapsed under the weight of its own regulatory burden and health care costs, Donald Trump did not destroy the program. Instead, he worked in a bipartisan manner to ensure that Americans had access to affordable care.”

Walz disagreed. “Donald Trump … ran (in 2016) on the premise that the first thing he was going to do on day one was repeal Obamacare,” he said. “On his first day, he tried to sign an executive order repealing the ACA. He filed a lawsuit to appeal the ACA, but lost in the Supreme Court, and he would have repealed the ACA without the courage by (the late Arizona Republican Senator) John McCain,” who voted against repealing the law.