Biden campaign blames Trump for growing anti-abortion extremism

The consequences of Republican-passed abortion bans continue to be felt across the country and President Joe Biden’s reelection campaign is ramping up criticism of the man who paved the path for these laws: Donald Trump.

Missouri Republicans have proposed legislation in the state legislature that would allow murder charges to be brought against women who have an abortion, anyone who helps someone get an abortion, and anyone who provides abortion care in the state.

The bills were prefiled last week ahead of the 2024 legislative session, which starts next month. The proposed legislation, dubbed the “Abolition of Abortion in Missouri Act,” comes after Missouri implemented a near-total abortion ban after last year’s US Supreme Court decision overturning Roe v. Wade.

The legislation drew criticism from Julie Chavez-Rodriguez, campaign director for the Biden campaign, who connected it to Trump’s 2016 comments that there ought to be ‘some sort of punishment’ for women who get abortions—and his appointment of three anti-abortion justices who voted to overturn Roe.

“Extreme MAGA Republicans in Missouri are following Trump’s lead by renewing a push to charge women who receive reproductive health care with murder,” Chavez-Rodriguez said in a statement on Monday. “This is just the latest in a series of cruel and draconian laws proposed by Republicans made possible in the year and a half since Trump’s Supreme Court justices provided the critical votes to overturn Roe.”

In Texas, where abortion is banned in virtually all cases, a mom was forced to flee the state to get an abortion to protect her health, after the right-wing state Supreme Court  temporarily blocked her from obtaining an emergency abortion on Friday. The court ruling halted a lower court ruling that would have allowed the procedure. 

Kate Cox, 31, is about 20 weeks pregnant and sought to obtain court authorization for the procedure because her fetus was diagnosed with trisomy 18, a fatal genetic abnormality that usually results in miscarriage, stillbirth, or death soon after birth. 

Cox has been to the emergency room four times during the last month due to symptoms like severe cramping, diarrhea, leaking of fluid and elevated vital signs, her attorney said. Continuing the pregnancy would pose a threat to her health and she would also have to undergo a third caesarean section if she carried the fetus to term, which could jeopardize her ability to have more children in the future, her lawyer argued.

After a Texas district court judge approved Cox to get an abortion, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton—a close ally of Trump’s—requested the state Supreme Court block Cox’s abortion, despite the threats to her health if she remains pregnant. 

On Monday, Cox’s attorneys announced that she had traveled out of state in order to get an abortion. Just hours later, the Texas Supreme Court officially denied Cox’s request for an exception under the state’s abortion ban, officially overruling the lower court’s order. 

In response to the Texas Supreme Court’s decision, the Biden campaign blasted Republicans for their abortion restrictions. 

“Right now in Texas, we’re watching a woman plead for the care she needs in court as Republican officials threaten doctors with jail time if they provide it,” Chavez-Rodriguez said. “And make no mistake: Donald Trump and MAGA Republicans have no plans to stop here.” 

Trump hasn’t shied away from taking credit for Roe being overturned. In May, he embraced his role in appointing Supreme Court justices that voted to overturn the legislation. 

“After 50 years of failure, with nobody coming even close, I was able to kill Roe v. Wade, much to the ‘shock’ of everyone,” he said. “Without me there would be no six weeks, 10 weeks, 15 weeks, or whatever is finally agreed to. Without me, the pro-life movement would have just kept losing.”  

In September, he again took credit for the reversal in a post on Truth Social. 

“For 52 years, people talked, spent vast amounts of money, but couldn’t get the job done,” the former president wrote. “I got the job done! Thanks to the three great Supreme Court justices I appointed, this issue has been returned to the states, where all legal scholars, on both sides, felt it should be.”

Biden, meanwhile, has repeatedly called for the restoration of Roe since the Supreme Court’s decision last year. 

In June, he issued three executive orders intended to protect access to reproductive health care services, including abortion. In November, he celebrated another round of election results showing that American voters, including those in red states, broadly support reproductive rights and want abortion to remain legal. The president has also vowed to use his veto power should a national abortion ban make its way to his desk. 

In her statement, Chavez-Rodriguez warned of what would happen if Trump and “MAGA Republicans” take control of the federal government again.

“If they have their way, every woman in this country could be facing punishment for seeking out the care they need under a national abortion ban,” she said. “That’s what will be on the ballot next November.”