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00:00The United States is just hours away from a crucial campaign moment.
00:08At 9 p.m. in Philadelphia, Donald Trump and Kamala Harris will take the stage for their
00:12first and likely only presidential debate.
00:15Debates aren't always electoral game changers, but the last one did mark the beginning of
00:19the end for Joe Biden's campaign.
00:22As in that debate, Harris and Trump's microphones will be muted when the other is speaking,
00:26just one of the many carefully negotiated conditions.
00:30The showdown will last for 90 minutes with no live audience and no prepared notes.
00:37One issue that is sure to come up is abortion.
00:39Since the Supreme Court overturned the federal right to the procedure, abortion restrictions
00:44and bans have taken effect in more than 20 states.
00:47As Monty Francis explains, the issue is a galvanizing one for Democrats and leaves Donald
00:51Trump and the Republicans vulnerable.
00:57American voters went to the polls in 2022 and 2023 and delivered victories for Democrats
01:03in major races across the country by putting abortion rights at the center of their campaigns.
01:11Democrats are hoping it works again in 2024, with polls showing overwhelming support for
01:16legalizing abortion.
01:19A vast majority of Americans, or 63 percent, say the procedure should be legal in all or
01:24most cases, while 36 percent say it should be illegal.
01:31The issue has left Donald Trump in a political conundrum.
01:35He proudly takes credit for naming Supreme Court justices who struck down Roe v. Wade.
01:40And his running mate, J.D. Vance, supports a national ban on abortion, even in cases
01:45of rape and incest.
01:47But Trump himself has taken a step back, leading the Republican Party to soften its
01:52platform and adopt his belief that the issue should be left up to individual states.
01:58The states will determine by vote or legislation or perhaps both, and whatever they decide
02:04must be the law of the land, in this case, the law of the state.
02:09Since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022, more than 20 states have passed
02:14laws restricting or banning abortion, particularly in the South.
02:19Last November, voters in Ohio turned out in big numbers to enshrine a right to abortion
02:24in the state constitution by a double-digit margin, overturning an abortion ban passed
02:29by the Republican legislature.
02:32Democrats see it as a sign of Trump's vulnerability, and a state he won twice, in 2016 and in 2020,
02:39and also as a winning issue in Democratic races across the board.
02:46To truly protect reproductive freedoms, we must restore the protections of Roe.
02:54Because, you see, what the United States Supreme Court took, Congress can put back in place.
03:02A poll in The Wall Street Journal showed that abortion is the number one issue for a majority
03:06of suburban women in swing states.
03:10Several states have pro-choice measures on the November ballot, which Democrats hope
03:14will drive turnout and help them win the White House.
03:19For more on the issue of abortion rights and what to expect at tonight's debate, I'm joined
03:23on set by Monty Francis.
03:24Hello, Monty.
03:25Hi, Allison.
03:26Monty, Donald Trump has made a lot of conflicting statements when it comes to abortion.
03:31What exactly is his position on the issue?
03:33Well, there's this critique of the media that we can listen to, you know, a two-hour rambling
03:37speech of Trump and then distill it into something coherent, when much of it really is incoherent.
03:42And it has to be said that on this issue of abortion, Donald Trump has really been all
03:46over the map.
03:48There isn't really a coherent message here from his campaign.
03:51Let me just give you an example of what I'm talking about.
03:54Last month, he said as a resident of Florida, he would vote for a measure that would allow
03:58abortion for up to 24 weeks of pregnancy.
04:01The very next day, he told Fox News he would vote against that measure.
04:05So he has also said on social media that his administration would be, quote, great for
04:09reproductive rights.
04:11That raised a lot of eyebrows because he's using, you know, terminology that is not really
04:15used by the anti-abortion movement.
04:17And it wasn't even really clear what he meant by that.
04:21He's really trying to play, I think, to a lot of audiences here.
04:23So I think it's important to not really focus on what he's saying here, but what his record
04:28is.
04:29And as we saw in the piece during his first term, he nominated three conservative justices
04:34who helped overturn Roe v. Wade.
04:36He said he was proud of doing that.
04:38He's bragged about his part in doing that.
04:40And despite all of these comments as of late, it's safe to say that he has been a champion
04:45of the anti-abortion movement.
04:48One thing I expect that will come up in the debate tonight is whether he supports a national
04:52ban on abortion.
04:53A lot of Republicans have been pushing for this.
04:55J.D. Vance supports it.
04:56He has said in the past that he does not support that.
04:59He thinks this should be left up to the states.
05:02And another thing to watch for, I think, is something that came up during that first debate
05:05with Joe Biden, which is this absolutely false claim that Democrats support what he called
05:11abortion after birth, that essentially executing newborn babies.
05:17Of course, this is something that is not happening and was not fact-checked during that first
05:21debate.
05:22Yeah, like ludicrous comments sometimes coming from Donald Trump.
05:25It'll be interesting to see if he clarifies anything tonight.
05:27Meanwhile, what do we expect to hear from Kamala Harris about abortion?
05:31Well, so polls show that for women under the age of 45, abortion really is the top issue
05:36for them going into this election.
05:37So I expect Kamala Harris will really try to capitalize on that.
05:41You know, the bottom line here is this is seen as a winning issue for Democrats, a losing
05:45issue for Republicans.
05:47On the campaign trail, she has blamed Trump for eroding abortion rights.
05:52She has said Donald Trump did this.
05:54She refers to abortion restrictions that have been passed in more than 20 states as, you
05:58know, Trump abortion bans.
06:00She also blames him for these legal challenges to in vitro fertilization and accuses him
06:05of wanting to ban the Mifepristone, the abortion pill, which is part of the Project 2025 agenda
06:12written up by Trump supporters.
06:15When it comes to Harris as a candidate, she is seen as a more effective messenger on this
06:18issue than Joe Biden.
06:19You know, Joe Biden is an 81-year-old Irish Catholic.
06:23He's reluctant to even say the word abortion.
06:26This isn't a subject that Kamala Harris feels very comfortable talking about.
06:30Back in March, she became the first vice president or president to visit an abortion clinic.
06:36And she has promised that if she's elected, she would push for a federal law that would
06:39legalize abortion across the country.
06:42And meanwhile, Monty, abortion is actually on the ballot in a number of states that are
06:45deciding at the local level what the future of abortion access is going to be.
06:49How is that expected to impact the national race?
06:52Yeah.
06:53So there are 10 states in total with abortion measures on the ballot in November.
06:56So five red-leaning states, three blue-leaning states, and then two crucial swing states.
07:01Those two swing states are Arizona and Nevada.
07:04So Democrats are hoping that this affects turnout of pro-choice voters, especially in
07:10those very crucial swing states.
07:11All right.
07:12It's going to be interesting to see what happens.
07:14Finally, Monty, the microphones are going to be turned off when the other candidate
07:18is speaking during tonight's debate.
07:21Now, that was something that the Harris campaign had really fought to change.
07:24Why is that?
07:25That's because in past debates, Kamala Harris has seen as being very effective and sort
07:29of fact-checking her opponent in real time.
07:32That won't be possible tonight because her microphone will be off when Donald Trump is
07:35speaking and vice versa.
07:37You know, those were the original rules when the candidates were Joe Biden and Donald Trump.
07:42The Harris campaign sought to change that.
07:45Donald Trump initially sort of agreed to it and then not.
07:48And then there was some back and forth between the two campaigns and then ABC, which is hosting
07:51the debate, ultimately decided that they were just going to keep the original rules.
07:55So the mics will be turned off when the other person is speaking.
08:00Also important to note, there will not be a live audience.
08:03And with just two months to go, there's a lot of pressure for both of these candidates
08:06to really deliver a knockout performance.
08:08Yeah, I know.
08:09I definitely am very interested to watch.
08:12Monty, thank you so much for that.
08:13That's France 24's Monty Francis there.
08:16And if you want to watch the debate, it is being moderated and broadcast in the U.S.
08:20by ABC News.
08:21But you can also catch it live here on France 24.
08:25It begins at 9 p.m. Eastern Standard Time, 3 a.m. Wednesday here in Paris.