Vice President Kamala Harris claimed during a speech at the 2024 Democratic National Convention (DNC) that former President Donald Trump and his allies intend to ban medication abortion, limit birth control access and implement a nationwide abortion ban.
Verdict: Misleading
While the claims made about Trump are inaccurate, it is true that some of his allies are in favor of these objectives.
Fact Check:
Trump has suggested that he may back out of the ABC News hosted debate while in Virginia, claiming the network is hostile towards Republicans when referencing a program that featured Sen. Tom Cotton, according to NBC News.
Harris claimed during the DNC that Trump and his allies intend to limit access to birth control, ban medication abortion and enact a nationwide abortion ban.
“As a part of (Trump’s) agenda, he and his allies would limit access to birth control, ban medication abortion and enact a nationwide abortion ban, with or without Congress,” Harris said around the 24:11 timestamp of the CBC News video.
The claim is misleading, however. Trump declined to endorse a national abortion ban last April, saying he believes abortion limits should be left for individual states to determine, according to AP News. Vice presidential candidate JD Vance confirmed that Trump would veto a bill for a national abortion ban if he were presented with one, according to PBS.
Trump made a May 21 post on Truth Social saying he would “NEVER ADVOCATE IMPOSING RESTRICTIONS ON BIRTH CONTROL, or other contraceptives.” An additional Truth Social post, this one published on Aug. 23, reads, “My Administration will be great for women and their reproductive rights.” Additionally, Trump told CBS News on Aug. 19 that he would not enforce restrictions on the sale of abortion medication by mail.
Some Trump “allies” support these objectives, however. At least 140 people, including six former Cabinet secretaries, who worked in the Trump administration had a hand in Project 2025, according to CNN. (RELATED: Did Kamala Harris Back Out Of A Debate Scheduled For Sept. 4?)
A Project 2025 spokesperson directed Check Your Fact to a page on its site addressing the claims. The site says there is no plan to ban or restrict contraceptives. However, Project 2025 advocates for rescinding Affordable Care Act coverage from certain contraceptives, which could prevent 48 million women from accessing guaranteed no-cost emergency contraception, according to the liberal think tank The Center for American Progress.
The Project 2025 site also says it does not support a complete ban on abortion without exceptions.
“Project 2025’s Mandate for Leadership calls for the government to comply with laws that prevent federal funding of abortion,” it reads. “It also calls for federal support for alternatives to abortion, including adoption.”
When it comes to medication abortion, Project 2025 intends to ban a drug used in many abortions, mifepristone, and take legal action against those who send abortion medication in the mail, according to the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights.
Check Your Fact previously reported that Project 2025 “says the government should enforce the Comstock Act, which would ban ‘[e]very article, instrument, substance, drug, medicine, or thing which is advertised or described in a manner calculated to lead another to use or apply it for producing abortion.’”
“It’s a lie to say Project 2025 advocates for a ban on all chemical abortion through Comstock or other regulation,” a Project 2025 spokesperson told Check Your Fact via email. “That’s not how the law works.”
Check Your Fact reached out to spokespeople for Harris and Trump for comment.