President Joe Biden’s re-election campaign released a brazen ad about abortion after Donald Trump said the issue should be left to the states and criticized his Republican rival for his position.
“Donald Trump did this,” reads the ad, which features Amanda Zurawski, a Texas woman who sued the state after she said she almost died from a miscarriage. The state essentially banned all abortions after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade.
In the 60-second video, Zurawski and her husband Josh discussed how they started buying things for the baby while Amanda was pregnant, including a baby book and the outfit the child would wear home from the hospital.
Biden’s new ad features Amanda Zurawski, a Texas woman who sued the state after she said she almost died from a miscarriage, and her husband Josh
As the couple talks about Amanda’s pregnancy, the… the text on the screen reads: “Because Donald Trump killed Roe v. Wade, Amanda was denied standard medical care to prevent infection, an abortion.”
Eighteen weeks into her pregnancy, Zurawski’s waters broke, putting her at high risk for a life-threatening infection. Her baby, named Willow, would surely die. Willow still had a heartbeat, so doctors said they couldn’t terminate the pregnancy under Texas law.
Zurawski, who has testified before Congress about her experiences, has said she was given an emergency abortion only after her condition worsened and she went into septic shock.
The ad reads: ‘She almost died twice. The infection has caused so much damage that Amanda may never become pregnant again.’
It concludes with Amanda crying in the background as her husband consults her, and the text: “Trump did this.”
Zurawski is one of five women suing the state of Texas over its abortion law. She attended Biden’s State of the Union address last year as a guest of first lady Jill Biden.
Amanda Zurawski was denied an abortion in Texas and developed sepsis
President Joe Biden is using the abortion issue to unite the Democratic base
Biden’s reelection team released the ad after Trump released a video saying abortion policy should be left to the states.
“We have abortion where everyone wanted it from a legal standpoint, the states will determine this by vote or legislation or maybe both, and whatever they decide should be the law of the land,” Trump said in the video.
He also accused Democrats of believing in “executing the baby after birth.”
Trump has previously suggested he would support a ban on 15-week abortions at the federal level.
On Monday he said he was ‘a strong supporter of exceptions for rape, incest and the life of the mother’.
The former president finally announced his position on the abortion issue after teasing it for months. His advisers fear the issue will cost him votes.
Democrats are using the abortion issue as a rallying cry for the base – especially women. It proved to be an effective issue for them in the 2022 midterm elections, where Democratic congressional candidates did better than expected.
They are putting it forward as the most important political issue of this year.
Monday’s ad is part of a $30 million ad campaign that will air in battleground states on local broadcast and cable television, as well as on national cable, the Biden campaign said.
The re-election team denounced Trump after the former president laid out his position.
Biden said in a blistering statement that Trump was “responsible for creating the brutality and chaos that has enveloped America since the Dobbs decision,” referring to the 2022 Supreme Court ruling that overturned Roe v. Wade.
He accused Trump of one ‘political deal’ to appoint Supreme Court justices who would overturn Roe v. Wade in exchange for support from anti-abortion voters.
“Trump admitted this in his statement today,” Biden said. “After he creates the chaos of overturning Roe, he tries to say, ‘Oh, never mind. Don’t punish me for that. I just want to win.’
Donald Trump on Monday laid out his position on abortion, saying it is up to the states
Even some Republicans were critical of the former president, especially conservatives.
Republican Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, a close Trump ally, said there should be a national law on abortion.
“I respectfully disagree with President Trump’s statement that abortion is a states’ rights issue,” he said.
He added: “I will continue to advocate for a national minimum standard that limits abortion after 15 weeks because the child is capable of feeling pain, with exceptions for rape, incest and the life of the mother.”
Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America’s President Marjorie Dannenfelser said she was “deeply disappointed” by Trump’s refusal to endorse a federal ban on abortion.