When Vice President Kamala Harris walked across the debate stage Tuesday night to shake the hand of former President Donald Trump, it was the first time the two had met in person. But that was the rare collegial moment in a face-off otherwise marked by false and sometimes bizarre statements by the former president.<\/p>\n
The debate was hosted by ABC with moderators David Muir and Linsey Davis, who occasionally fact-checked Trump. He complained on the Fox News show \u201cFox & Friends\u201d on Wednesday morning that it was a \u201cthree-to-one\u201d contest.<\/p>\n
The two presidential candidates covered a wide range of issues \u2014 from job and inflation numbers to abortion and immigration \u2014 in exchanges marked by personal attacks. As our PolitiFact partners noted, Harris often directly addressed Trump while answering the moderators\u2019 questions. Trump mostly stared straight ahead. In response to Trump\u2019s claims about the Biden administration\u2019s record on crime, Harris cited Trump\u2019s criminal conviction in New York and other indictments.<\/p>\n
The moderators questioned Trump about whether he would attempt to dismantle the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare \u2014 the health insurance program he pledged and failed to repeal and replace during his previous administration.<\/p>\n
He said, if president, he would \u201conly change it if we come up with something that\u2019s better and less expensive.\u201d He went on to say, \u201cThere are concepts and options we have to do that, and you\u2019ll be hearing about it in the not-too-distant future.\u201d<\/p>\n
Trump has promised an Obamacare replacement since he was on the campaign trail in 2015<\/a>. He claimed during the debate that he \u201csaved\u201d the ACA by issuing regulations aimed at lowering insurance premiums.<\/p>\n Harris\u2019 previous support for \u201cMedicare for All,\u201d a proposal to replace private health insurance with a government-run health system, drew questions from the moderators and attacks by Trump.<\/p>\n Abortion was a clear flash point. Harris called state restrictions on the procedure enacted since 2022 \u201cTrump abortion bans\u201d and said it was immoral to take away a woman\u2019s ability to make decisions about her own body. She also pledged to sign any bill that would reinstate the protections outlined in Roe v. Wade, <\/em>which the Supreme Court overturned in 2022.<\/p>\n Trump said that as president he would never face the question of signing a national abortion ban because the issue is now being settled in states. \u201cI\u2019m not signing a ban,\u201d he said. \u201cThere\u2019s no reason to sign a ban.\u201d<\/p>\n Trump also resurfaced claims \u2014 repeatedly judged false by PolitiFact and other fact-checking organizations \u2014 that Democrats support abortions up to the moment of birth and the \u201cexecution\u201d of babies after birth. ABC\u2019s Davis flagged Trump\u2019s statement, saying that willfully terminating a newborn\u2019s life is illegal in every state. In addition, the majority of Democrats support abortion access up to fetal viability, when the fetus is able to survive outside the womb, typically around 24 weeks of pregnancy.<\/p>\n Harris brought up Project 2025, a policy blueprint created by the conservative Heritage Foundation from which Trump has sought to distance himself.<\/p>\n Moments after the debate ended, pop superstar Taylor Swift posted<\/a> on Instagram that she would be voting for Harris \u201cbecause she fights for the rights and causes I believe need a warrior to champion them.\u201d Swift\u2019s post featured a photo of her with her cat and was signed \u201cChildless Cat Lady\u201d \u2014 a reference to comments made by JD Vance, the Republican vice presidential candidate.<\/p>\n Our PolitiFact partners<\/a> fact-checked the debate in real time on a live blog<\/a>, with more coverage here<\/a>, as Harris and Trump clashed on the economy, immigration, and abortion.<\/p>\n Excerpts detailing specific health-related claims follow.<\/p>\n Trump: \u201cBut the governor before, he said, \u2018The baby will be born, and we will decide what to do with the baby.\u2019\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n False.<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n Trump initially referenced a West Virginia governor. He meant Virginia, and corrected himself later in the debate.<\/p>\n Former Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam, a Democrat and a physician, never said he would sanction the execution of newborns. What he did say during a 2019 radio interview is that in rare, late-pregnancy cases when fetuses are nonviable, doctors deliver the baby, keep it comfortable, resuscitate it if the family wishes, and then have a \u201cdiscussion\u201d with the mother.<\/p>\n The issue is that Northam declined to say what that discussion would entail. Trump puts words in the then-governor\u2019s mouth, saying doctors would urge the mother to let them forcibly kill the newborn, which is a felony in Virginia (and all other states) punishable by a long prison sentence or death.<\/p>\n Trump: \u201cEvery legal scholar, every Democrat, every Republican, liberal, conservative, they all wanted [abortion] to be brought back to the states where the people could vote.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n False<\/strong><\/a>.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n The 1973 Roe v. Wade<\/em> decision inspired legions of supporters and opponents. Before the U.S. Supreme Court overturned it in 2022, numerous legal scholars wrote briefs urging the court to uphold the ruling.<\/p>\n Some legal scholars who favor abortion rights have criticized the 1973 ruling\u2019s legal underpinnings, saying that different constitutional arguments, based on equal protection, would have provided a stronger case. But legal experts, including some who held this view, said those scholars would not have advocated for overturning Roe<\/em> on this basis.<\/p>\n Trump: On the Affordable Care Act, \u201cI saved it.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n False.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n During 2016, Trump campaigned on repealing and replacing the Affordable Care Act. While president, he sought to repeal the measure \u2014 and failed.<\/p>\n But his administration pursued various policies<\/a> that hindered its reach and effectiveness, including cutting millions of dollars in advertising and outreach funding. He cut subsidies to insurance companies that offered coverage on the exchanges. He also took regulatory steps to permit less expensive and less comprehensive health coverage \u2014 for example, short-term health plans<\/a> that didn\u2019t comply with the ACA.<\/p>\n During the Trump administration, ACA enrollment declined<\/a>, and the number of uninsured Americans rose<\/a> by 2.3 million from 2016 to 2019, including 726,000 children, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.<\/a><\/p>\n Trump: Harris \u201cwants everybody to be on government insurance\u201d for health care.<\/strong><\/p>\n This is misleading.<\/p>\n Harris once co-sponsored a bill to expand Medicare to Americans of all ages, but she does not currently support this proposal.<\/p>\n In April 2019, Harris became one of 14 original co-sponsors<\/a> of the Medicare for All Act of 2019 sponsored by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.). The legislation would have established a national health insurance program administered by the federal Department of Health and Human Services.<\/p>\n The bill would have created an automatic, federally run health insurance program for all Americans, which would mirror the socialized medicine systems in such countries as the United Kingdom.<\/p>\n Harris backed the bill when she was preparing to run in the 2020 presidential primaries and many candidates believed that Democratic base voters wanted the most liberal positions possible.<\/p>\n However, Medicare for All failed to advance to a vote in the Senate. After her 2020 candidacy ended, Harris focused instead on bolstering the ACA as opposed to pushing for Medicare for All.<\/p>\n KFF Health News<\/a> is a national newsroom that produces in-depth journalism about health issues and is one of the core operating programs at KFF\u2014an independent source of health policy research, polling, and journalism. Learn more about KFF<\/a>.<\/p>\nUSE OUR CONTENT<\/h3>\n