President Biden’s reelection campaign is kicking off debate day in Georgia by condemning former President Donald Trump for putting women’s lives in danger.
The Biden campaign released a new television ad featuring the testimony of Dr. Lauren Miller, an obstetrician who focused on high-risk pregnancies and moved her practice to Colorado from Idaho after the Supreme Court rolled back federal abortion rights, kicking the issue back to the states to decide.
In the ad, Ms. Miller blames Mr. Trump for limiting abortion access in several states across the country and making doctors more hesitant to provide abortion care in a medical emergency.
“Two years ago, Trump overturned Roe v Wade. Because of the abortion bans across the country, women’s lives are at risk,” Ms. Miller says in the “At 2 AM” ad. “Physicians could be tried with a felony for saving that woman’s life too early.”
The ruling generates more second-guessing when pregnant women are rushed into the emergency room, she says.
“The penalties are so severe; felony, imprisonment, loss of license, those are terrifying things,” she says. “These laws are truly barbaric. They are putting us back decades, if not centuries. Donald Trump did this. He put women’s lives in danger.”
Mr. Trump refashioned the court by nominating three conservative justices who would go on to vote in favor of overturning Roe v. Wade, the 1973 ruling that provided women with a constitutional right to abortion.
Mr. Trump has celebrated the decision and has reminded religious and socially conservative voters of the lead role he played in making it happen
But he has refused to endorse the calls from Christian conservatives and pro-life activists for more federal abortion restrictions. He says decisions about abortion laws should be made in the states.
Mr. Biden says the damage has already been done. He has been harping on the issue, viewing it as a way to energize voters who are otherwise not pumped up about turning out for him this fall.
That blowback against the court’s 2022 decision has helped boost Democrats in recent election cycles, including in battleground states.
In 2022, Michigan voters passed an amendment to the state constitution that guarantees abortion rights. In 2023, Wisconsin voters elected a state Supreme Court judge who vowed to defend abortion rights, flipping the ideological makeup of the court.
Other swing states, including Arizona, are expected to have abortion rights on the ballot this fall.
• Seth McLaughlin can be reached at smclaughlin@washingtontimes.com.
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