Trump Repeats His Same Old Abortion Lies During Debate

Abortion came up early in CNN’s presidential debate Thursday night, with Donald Trump repeating his head-scratching claim that “everybody” wanted to overturn Roe v. Wade.

The subject arose when debate moderators Dana Bash and Jake Tapper asked the former president whether he would block access to medication abortion, something the U.S. Supreme Court just voted to protect. Trump responded that he respects the court’s decision but quickly pivoted to what’s become his go-to claim.

“Everybody, without exception ― Democrats, Republicans, liberals, conservatives ― everybody wanted it,” Trump said of the court overturning the landmark abortion rights ruling two years ago, allowing states to enact severe restrictions on the procedure.

“Every legal scholar throughout the world, the most respected, wanted it brought back to the states,” Trump insisted. That is false .

It’s become clear over the past two years that abortion is a losing issue for Republicans, making it a difficult topic for Trump to navigate. In May, he insisted that abortion rights is “not that big of an issue” and that it “should be largely taken off the table because the individual states are doing what they’re doing.”

In reality, polling shows that 1 in 6 women of reproductive age say abortion is the single most important issue to their vote this year, and about half of women believe this year’s elections will have a “major impact” on abortion access. About half of all voters say abortion is a “very important issue.”

Facing pressure to clarify his position on what types of abortion crackdowns he’d support, Trump made vague remarks in April that people should “do what’s right for our country.” He offered a slightly clearer stance days later, saying he