Washington: Tesla CEO and owner of the social media platform X Elon Musk slammed US Vice President Kamala Harris on Monday for "lying" about former President Donald Trump's stance on abortion ban. Notably, Harris wrote in a post that Trump would ban abortion nationwide, and pledged to do everything to stop him and "restore women's reproductive system".
Notably, Trump last week declined to sign a federal abortion ban after months of mixed messages and speculation, saying he believes abortion limits should be left to the states. "My view is now that we have abortion where everybody wanted it from a legal standpoint, the states will determine by vote or legislation or perhaps both. And whatever they decide must be the law of the land — in this case, the law of the state," he said on his Truth Social platform.
Trump has taken credit for the US Supreme Court's decision to end Roe v Wade precedent, which granted a constitutional right to abortion, saying that he was “proudly the person responsible for the ending” the law and thanked the conservative justices who overturned it by name. However, his stance was met with mixed reception as pro-life organisations criticised the announcement.
Trump also made a significant announcement during the presidential debate by saying that he will not block the abortion medication, which was recently approved by the US Supreme Court. The former President came in support of abortion bans except in the case of rape, incest and danger to the mother's life, and claimed the earlier system allowed babies to be killed even in the eighth and the ninth months.
"Donald Trump would ban abortion nationwide. President @JoeBiden and I will do everything in our power to stop him and restore women's reproductive freedom," wrote Harris on X. The post was immediately flagged by a community note saying, "President Trump has repeatedly said he will not sign a national abortion ban" and sparked an uproar with people accusing her of lying.
Musk then called out Harris by commenting on her post, saying, "He clearly said he would not do so" in the presidential debate against Biden. He later attached the screenshot of her post receiving the community note in a separate post. "When will politicians, or at least the intern who runs their account, learn that lying on this platform doesn’t work anymore?" he said in the second post.
Abortion has emerged as one of the most pivotal issues in America ahead of the presidential elections. Republican-led states have ushered in a wave of new restrictions following the 2022 overturning of Roe v Wade. More than a dozen GOP-controlled states have banned abortion outright, while others have outlawed the procedure on increasingly diminishing timelines.
Democrats believe the fight over abortion rights helps them at the polls and have outperformed expectations in elections since. Voters in seven states have sided with abortion rights supporters on ballot measures, and abortion is expected to be on the ballot in more states this year, including Florida, Maryland and New York.
Polling has consistently shown that most Americans believe abortion should be legal through the initial stages of pregnancy. About half of U.S. adults said abortions should be permitted at the 15-week mark, according to an Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research poll conducted last June. Earlier, the Supreme Court refused to block access to an abortion pill, saying the particular challengers lacked the necessary legal standing to pursue the case.
(with inputs from agencies)
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