Faced with the opportunity to hit Trump on abortion rights, Biden falters

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden had plenty of opportunity during the presidential debate to lay out a clear vision regarding abortion rights in the face of growing restrictions and worsening medical care for women since the fall of Roe v. Wade, something his campaign sees as a major motivator for voters.

That’s not what happened.

Biden’s jumbled and even nonsensical responses Thursday night to questions about abortion rights — coupled with Trump’s outlandish but unchecked claims about Democrats’ views — were panned by some abortion rights advocates who suggested the performance was a failure.

“Look, no one who cares about abortion access felt good about Biden’s comments or his performance last night,” said Kellie Copeland, the director of Abortion Forward, an advocacy group in Ohio. “We need better — we need a lot better.”

Put more bluntly: “He failed us last night,” said Sarah Garza Resnick of Personal PAC, an Illinois group that supports candidates who back abortion rights.

Reproductive rights have already proven to be a winning issue for Democrats. On ballot initiatives, voters consistently choose to safeguard abortion rights. About two-thirds of U.S. adults and nearly 9 in 10 Democrats say abortion should be legal in all or most cases, according to AP-NORC data from last June. It’s a topic that should be an easy win for Biden.

<bsp-list-loadmore data-module="" class=«PageListStandardB» data-gtm-region=«RELATED COVERAGE» data-gtm-topic=«No Value» data-show-loadmore=«true» data-gtm-modulestyle=«List B»> <bsp-custom-headline custom-headline=«div»> RELATED COVERAGE </bsp-custom-headline> <bsp-custom-headline custom-headline=«div»> Tennessee is sued over law that criminalizes helping minors get abortions without