President Biden and Democrats launched a day-long assault Wednesday against former President Donald Trump and Republicans on abortion rights.
They warned the “extreme” six-week “Trump abortion ban” that took effect in Florida is a sign of things to come if Mr. Trump wins back the White House.
The multi-pronged attack reinforced the Biden campaign’s hope that the emotionally charged issue could be a lifeline for him and down-ticket Democrats.
They are hoping it helps fire up despondent Democrats and women in battleground states ahead of the November election, and could even put long-shot states such as Florida back in play.
Mr. Biden jumpstarted the criticism before sunrise from Washington. In a statement, he slammed Mr. Trump for opening the door to the Florida law “banning reproductive health care before many women even know they are pregnant.”
“There is one person responsible for this nightmare: Donald Trump,” Mr. Biden said.
SEE ALSO: Biden says Florida’s 6-week abortion ban is Trump’s fault
Vice President Kamala Harris ran with the same line of attack with elected Democratic leaders on the ground in Jacksonville, Florida, and the Democratic National Committee flew a plane near Mr. Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort bearing the message: “Trump’s Plan: Ban Abortion, Punish Women.”
“This is a fight for freedom — the fundamental freedom to make decisions about one’s own body and not have the government tell them what they are supposed to do,” Ms. Harris said.
The vice president said Mr. Trump cannot run away from the issue because he nominated the conservative justices responsible for overturning Roe v. Wade, which had provided a constitutional right to abortion.
“Now present day, because of Donald Trump, more than 20 states have abortion bans, more than 20 Trump abortion bans, and today, this very day, at the stroke of midnight another Trump abortion ban went into effect here in Florida,” she said, adding that one in three women live in states with such bans, including some that do not have exceptions for cases of rape and incest.
“As of this morning, 4 million women in this state woke up with fewer reproductive freedoms than they did last night,” she said.
Ms. Harris, who recently became the first vice president to visit a clinic that provides abortions, said Mr. Trump is trying to dupe voters into thinking he would not support a national abortion ban when he is on record in 2017 backing the idea.
SEE ALSO: Democrats’ billboards warn Michigan voters that Trump backs abortion bans
“The contrast in this election could not be more clear,” she said. “Basically under Donald Trump, it would be fair game to be monitored and punished by the government, whereas Joe Biden and I have a different view. We believe the government should never come between a woman and her doctor.”
Since the Roe decision, the abortion issue has favored Democrats at the ballot box, including in red states such as Kansas and Ohio.
Plus, it has created a political challenge for Republicans running for office in Arizona, where the state Supreme Court recently upheld an 1864 law that bars abortion from the moment of conception except to save the life of the mother.
Arizona and Florida are among the states where abortion rights are expected to be on the ballot this fall.
For his part, Mr. Trump has maintained the abortion battle will now be decided at the state level.
In a recent interview with Time magazine, Mr. Trump said that “it’s irrelevant whether I am comfortable or not” with states prosecuting women who have abortions after a legal limit.
“It’s totally irrelevant, because the states are going to make those decisions,” he said.