 "Walz-Vance debate: US vice-presidential rivals spar over women’s autonomy on pregnancy")
Abortion was among the key issues that centered around the US Vice Presidential debate between Republican JD Vance and Democrat Tim Walz On Tuesday in New York.
On abortion, both US Vice Presidential nominees shared personal stories of women.
When Gov. of Minnesota, Walz, was asked about the issue of abortion, he defended his state’s broad abortion-rights law and attacked former President Donald Trump’s record on the issue.
He then turned to the stories of women living with the consequences of the abortion bans that have been enacted in states across the US following the overturning of Roe v. Wade in 2022.
Walz mentioned Amanda Zurawski, who, after doctors sent her home from a hospital in Texas, experienced a complication in her 18th week of pregnancy that could have killed her. He also spoke about Hadley Duvall, a 12-year-old who was raped and impregnated by her stepfather in Kentucky.
Walz then even referred to the story of Amber Thurman, who died after delays in her medical care connected to Georgia’s ban on abortions after six weeks.
“The fact of the matter is, how can we as a nation say that your life and your rights, as basic as the right to control your own body, is determined on geography?” Walz asked.
Soon after, Vance, Trump’s running mate, was on the defensive and was stern on his previous support of a national abortion ban. He said incorrectly that he had not supported one before adding that, while running for Senate in 2022, he had talked “about setting some minimum national standard.”
“We’ve got to do a better job of winning back people’s trust,” Vance said, referring to the Republican Party, before adding that he and Trump supported “pro-family policies.”
Vance expressed sympathy for Thurman and said: “Amber Thurman should still be alive, and there are a lot of people who should still be alive, but I certainly wish that she was.”
He then intensified his attack on Walz for Minnesota’s abortion law. “Mr. Walz said men should not be telling women what to do when it came to their reproductive rights. I use this line on this: Just mind your own business on this,” he said.
“Things work best when Roe versus Wade was in place, when we do a restoration of Roe that works best,” Vance said.
The Republican VP nominee also spoke of a close friend who, he said, “told me something a couple of years ago that she felt like if she hadn’t had that abortion, that it would have destroyed her life because she was in an abusive relationship.”
During the debate, Vance also inaccurately claimed that Minnesota Governor Walz signed a bill allowing doctors to withhold lifesaving care from infants who survive botched late-term abortions. However, in the 2023 bill Walz signed updated language about the care of newborns, requiring medical personnel to provide care for “an infant who is born alive.” Both the updated and previous versions of the law ensure that infants born alive are fully protected under the law. Infanticide remains illegal in all states, including Minnesota, and the bill does not alter that legal standard.
With inputs from agencies.
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