Audio only:
In this episode, Trent rebuts lies and distortions about abortion and infanticide in the Trump-Harris Presidential Debate.
Transcription:
Trent:
Last night I watched the debate between Donald Trump and Kamala Harris, and as someone who’s been intimately involved in the pro-life movement for over 20 years, I was appalled by the lies and distortions that Harris and the moderators were peddling on this issue. So in today’s episode, I need to set the record straight. Let’s start with Donald Trump’s comments on abortion.
CLIP:
They have abortion in the ninth month. They even have, and you can look at the governor of West Virginia, the previous governor of West Virginia, not the current governor’s doing an excellent job, but the governor before he said, the baby will be born and we will decide what to do with the baby. In other words, we’ll execute the baby. And that’s why I did that, because that predominates, because they’re radical. The Democrats are radical in that and her vice presidential pick, which I think is a horrible pick by the way for our country because he is really out of it, but her vice presidential pick says abortion in the ninth month is absolutely fine. He also says, execution after birth, it’s execution. No longer abortion because the baby is born is okay, and that’s not okay with me, hence the vote
Trent:
Except for Trump misspeaking and saying West Virginia instead of Virginia, which he corrected later in his remarks. That’s all true. Now, let’s look at the moderators and Harris’s lies and distortions about late term abortion and infanticide in the United States.
CLIP:
Would you support any restrictions on a woman’s right to an abortion?
I absolutely support reinstating the protections of Roe v. Wade. And as you rightly mentioned, nowhere in America is a woman carrying a pregnancy to term and asking for an abortion that is not happening. It’s insulting to the women of America.
You should ask, will she allow abortion in the eighth month, ninth month, seventh month?
Come on.
Okay, would you do that? Why don’t you ask her that question? Why don’t you answer the question? Would you veto that’s under Roe v. Wade? Answer the question, would you veto you could do abortions in the seventh month, the eighth month, the ninth month?
That’s not true,
And probably after birth, just look at the governor, former governor of Virginia, the governor of Virginia said, we put the baby aside and then we determine what we want to do with a baby.
President Trump. Thank you.
And I give tremendous credit to those six justices.
There is no state in this country where it is legal to kill a baby after it’s born. Madam Vice president want to get your response to President Trump?
Trent:
Let’s start with late term abortion. If you didn’t know the law, you’d assume Roe versus Wade prohibited late term abortions, but that’s not true. Roe said that in the first two trimesters or up to when the fetus is 22 weeks old states could not outlaw abortion. Roe also does not require states to ban abortion in the third trimester. They can keep it legal if they want, but if states do ban abortion in the third trimester, they have to allow an exception for abortions to protect a woman’s health. The problem with this exception is that Rose Companion case, DOE versus Bolton said that health included any factor that was physical, psychological, familial, or related to the woman’s age. Last year, 1 million abortions occurred in the United States according to the pro-abortion Alan Guttmacher Institute, and 1% of them happened after the unborn child was 20 weeks old. This is when unborn children can feel pain and they look like this.
CLIP:
By 20 weeks, the cochlea, which is the organ of hearing, has reached adult size within the fully developed inner ear. From now on, the fetus will respond to a growing range of sounds.
Trent:
That means 10,000 children are killed in late term abortions every year. That’s close to the number of people who are murdered by guns in this country every year. And if you think that that’s a big problem, then surely late term abortion, not even abortion in general, but just late term abortion must also be a big problem in the United States. But to act like late term abortion doesn’t happen is an obviously disprovable lie. You can go online to places like the DuPont Clinic in Washington DC that offers abortion from 25 to 31 weeks and clinics like Warren Hearns in Colorado that offer second and third trimester abortions. Remember, Roe says states can ban abortions in the third trimester, but they don’t have to and they do ban it. They have to leave a meaningless health exception. Now, some people will say that late term abortions are only for exceptionally rare cases, like if a woman’s life is in danger. I noticed that NBC posted a story about late term abortion right in the middle of the debate featuring Warren Hearn,
CLIP:
The majority of women who come to see you. What is their circumstance?
It ranges from the 12-year-old kid who’s pregnant from her stepfather to the 45-year-old woman who’s desperately wants to have a baby and finds out that she has a fatal illness that is incompatible with being pregnant.
Trent:
It’s not true that late term abortions are just for those reasons. Martin Haskell, a late term abortion provider, testified before Congress saying the following. I’ll be quite frank, most of my abortions are elective in that 20 to 24 week range. In my particular case, probably 20% are for genetic reasons, and the other 80% are purely elective. Warren Hearn has even argued that a child being unwanted by his mother can be considered a health risk. He writes the following. It appears that unwanted ness may be regarded as a major complication of pregnancy with surgical intervention in the form of abortion as the indicated treatment. In addition to 2013, study in perspectives on sexual and reproductive health said the most common reasons women give for delayed abortion past 20 weeks included things like inability to raise the funds for the procedure or failing to recognize they were pregnant in the first place.
It said, most women seeking later terminations are not doing so for reasons of fetal anomaly or life endangerment. Also, if a woman’s life is in danger, you don’t do a late term abortion after 20 weeks because that takes longer than an emergency c-section. And with a c-section, the child at least has a chance to live. And when it comes to fetal anomalies, well this can include things like down syndrome, which is commonly detected in the second trimester pregnancy. And even when it comes to more serious conditions, we don’t kill two year olds who are dying from a disability. And since the unborn are equally human, we shouldn’t kill them. For the same reason
CLIP:
In 2023, they received a tragic diagnosis 24 weeks into their pregnancy, a severe fetal anomaly and possible consequences for Emma’s future fertility.
We looked at each other and immediately just knew as husband and wife that that was the best decision for our family to have an abortion.
Trent:
Once again, these are the babies we are talking about at 24 weeks who are being killed because they’re sick or disabled.
CLIP:
By 24 weeks, the eyelids reopen and the fetus exhibits a blink startle response.
Trent:
And let’s be clear about what happens in these procedures. The US Supreme Court said in Gonzalez versus Carhartt about late term abortions, that the abortionists may kill the fetus a day or two before performing the surgical evacuation. They inject digoxin or potassium chloride into the fetus. The umbilical cord or the amniotic fluid fetal demise may cause contractions and make greater dilation possible once dead. Moreover, the fetus’s body will soften and its removal will be easier. Warren Hearn says the following, in his medical textbook, abortion practice, a long curved myo scissors may be necessary to decapitate and dismember the fetus. And what if the fetal anomaly wasn’t discovered until after the baby is born or the woman goes into labor before the abortion can be completed? Late term abortions involve dilating the cervix to stimulate miscarriage, and the baby is killed before he’s born. But what if the baby is born early?
Well, that’s where these so-called doctors would like to just leave the baby on the operating room table to die. And that’s what Trump referenced regarding the former governor of Virginia allowing born infants to die, which the moderators distorted in their fact checking, which seemed to only fall on Trump for some strange reason. When it comes to Tim Waltz, Charles Kosi wrote the following in First things, Minnesota State law used to explicitly protect these babies, but waltz and his supporters changed it insisting that references to abortion be removed and that medical care be changed to mere care. In addition, while the original law required medical personnel to preserve the life and health of the born alive infant, the waltz supported chain struck that whole line. It now requires medical personnel merely to care for the infant who is born alive. No more requirements to preserve the life and health of the born alive infant after a botched abortion. Got it. When it comes to Virginia, here’s an interview Virginia Governor Ralph Northam gave where he talked about supporting a bill that would make third trimester abortions easier to obtain and allow infants born alive after these procedures to be left to die.
CLIP:
There was a very contentious committee hearing yesterday when Fairfax County delegate Kathy Tran made her case for lifting restrictions on third trimester abortions as well as other restrictions now in place. And she was pressed by Republican delegate about whether her bill would permit an abortion even as a woman is essentially dilating ready to give birth. And she answered that it would permit an abortion at that stage of labor. Do you support her measure and explain her answer?
Yeah, and I wasn’t there, Julie, and I certainly can’t speak for Delegate Tran, but I would tell you one first thing I would say. This is why decisions such as this should be made by providers, physicians, and the mothers and fathers that are involved. When we talk about third trimester abortions, these are done with the consent of obviously the mother with the consent of the physicians more than one physician by the way. And it’s done in cases where there may be severe deformities, there may be a fetus. So in this particular example, if a mother is in labor, I can tell you exactly what would happen. The infant would be delivered, the infant would be kept comfortable. The infant would be resuscitated if that’s what the mother and the family desired, and then a discussion would ensue between the physicians and the mothers.
Trent:
That’s infanticide. You’re talking about children who are sick or have a disability and deciding that if they are in distress, you’re just going to let them die because they’re unwanted. But if a wanted child is born and they are in distress, they are resuscitated and a failure to resuscitate them because you just want the baby to die is murder. But if the child is sick and unwanted, well then the rules and basic decency go out the window. And here was a local news report of showing the radical consequences of the bill on late term abortion in Virginia that the governor was supporting
CLIP:
Governor Ralph Northam coming under fire after defending an abortion bill by delegate Kathy Tran on Wops asked the governor Wednesday morning giving an example of a serious case.
The infant would be kept comfortable. The infant would be resuscitated if that’s what the mother and the family desired. And I regret that those comments have been mischaracterized.
Republicans accuse the governor of supporting laws that would kill babies.
Words have
Trent:
Meaning
CLIP:
They’re concerned. The bill in question loosens the high standard required to have a third trimester abortion
Trent:
For something as simple as a mental health concern
CLIP:
Right now, third trimester abortions are banned unless a woman’s life or health is in danger. Three doctors have to approve the procedure. Delegate trans bill would reduce it to one doctor.
Trent:
Notice what pro aborts do. They try to pass as permissible abortion laws as they can with so-called limits like three doctors needing to approve it. Then they always try to whittle it down as much as possible. Well, we only need one doctor or mental health will also suffice for a third trimester abortion. That’s why abortion activists don’t want Roe reinstated. They’ll pressure Harris to just allow unlimited abortion for any time at any reason throughout pregnancy. At the time of Governor Noam’s comments, Senator Ben SAS gave a perfect reply In just a few years, pro-abortion zealots went from safe, legal, and rare to keep the newborns comfortable while the doctor debates infanticide. I don’t care what party you’re from, if you can’t say that it’s wrong to leave babies to die after birth, get the hell out of public office. Pro-lifers have attempted to pass the Federal Born Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act since 2015 that would provide criminal penalties to so-called Doctors who Fail to treat infants who survive abortion attempts on their life.
But so far, the bill has failed to pass, which is a sad indicator of how far America has declined morally, which is even more dire than its recent economic and other social declines. It’s sad. I had to include a whole chapter on answering infanticide arguments in my book on pro-life apologetics. But that’s where we’re at and we need to be ready. If you’d like to learn more about this topic, how to defend the lives of unborn children and how to counter myths at the media petals about abortion, check out the second edition of my book Persuasive Pro-Life. I’ll link to it in the description below. But thanks again for watching and I hope you have a very blessed day.