港澳天下彩has partnered with PolitiFact to fact-check Florida politicians. The Pulitzer Prize-winning team seeks to present the true facts, unaffected by agenda or biases.
Eight days before a six-week abortion ban takes effect in Florida, President Joe Biden spoke in Tampa to lay blame for restrictive measures nationwide on one person: former President Donald Trump.
In a 12-minute address April 23 at Hillsborough Community College, Biden warned of "extreme" laws that restrict abortion access, and he blamed Trump, his predecessor and presumptive 2024 rival, for making those policies possible.
Biden criticized Trump for bragging about overturning Roe v. Wade and paving the way for states to enact strict limits on abortion. Using that new power, Biden said, Arizona reinstated an 1864 total abortion ban and Florida instituted its six-week ban.
READ MORE: Biden is campaigning in Tampa a week before a new abortion ban takes effect
Biden and his running mate, Vice President Kamala Harris, in recent days have made abortion . Biden shouted his remarks at times, but some of his statements left out context.
Biden鈥檚 address comes as Florida voters are set to decide whether to expand abortion rights in a high-stakes
Polls show that six-week abortion bans are unpopular both and . For bans later in pregnancy, around 16 weeks, polling results are inconsistent. A national from February 2024 found that 58% opposed federal ban on abortion at 16 weeks while 42% said they would support one. But an the same month found the opposite: 48% favoring a 16-week ban, 36% opposed and 16% not sure. Polling wide support for first-trimester abortions, but far less for second-trimester abortions.
Here are fact-checks of four things Biden said.
"Don鈥檛 think (Trump) is not making a deal right now with MAGA extremists to ban abortion nationwide in every state, because he鈥檚 making it."
Although we can鈥檛 know what goes on in private, Biden鈥檚 claim conflicts with Trump鈥檚 most recent public comments on abortion.
On April 8, Trump released a on his abortion position and later that he wouldn鈥檛 sign a nationwide ban if it came to his desk.
In his video, Trump boasted about appointing three justices to the U.S. Supreme Court who overturned Roe v. Wade, the 1973 Supreme Court decision that federally protected abortion access. Trump also said he thought that abortion regulation should be left to the states, and that he supports exceptions for rape, incest and the pregnant woman鈥檚 life.
On the campaign trail, Trump has criticized some of the stricter abortion bans. He called Florida鈥檚 six-week law poised to take effect May 1 "" And he agreed that Arizona鈥檚 newly resurrected 1864 total abortion ban .
Before the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022, Trump expressed more support for a federal abortion ban.
In 1999, Trump He adopted an antiabortion stance around 2011, when he told a conservative committee that he was "pro-life."
When Trump was president in 2017, a 20-week national abortion ban that failed to pass.
In February, The New York Times reported that Trump floated a in private discussions. In March, Trump indicated in a that he would back a 15-week ban.
Trump surrogates have discussed Trump could use once in office, such as enforcing the 鈥� a 19th century law that bans the mailing of "obscene" material 鈥� that could outlaw abortion across the country by prohibiting sending materials such as medication and surgical equipment that could be used in abortions. , a policy platform by a coalition of Trump-aligned groups for a second potential Trump presidency, also referred to the law in its online agenda.
Trump hasn鈥檛 said he would enforce the law this way, but he hasn鈥檛
Trump "said, 鈥楾here has to be punishment for women exercising their reproductive freedom.鈥�"
This is misleading. In 2023, we rated a similar statement by Biden .
Trump made a comment about punishing women in 2016 but quickly walked it back.
During a March 2016 MSNBC town hall, an audience member asked Trump about his stance on women鈥檚 rights in reproductive health decisions. Trump said he was "pro-life," with exceptions, but gave no further details. In a back-and-forth, host Chris Matthews asked Trump about legal penalties:
Matthews: "Do you believe in punishment for abortion, yes or no, as a principle?"
Trump: "The answer is that there has to be some form of punishment."
Matthews: "For the woman?"
Trump: "Yeah, there has to be some form."
But Trump retracted the comment that same day after pro- and anti-abortion activists roundly criticized him. He that said he meant that physicians should be held legally responsible, not women. It said:
"If Congress were to pass legislation making abortion illegal and the federal courts upheld this legislation, or any state were permitted to ban abortion under state and federal law, the doctor or any other person performing this illegal act upon a woman would be held legally responsible, not the woman. The woman is a victim in this case as is the life in her womb."
The next day, Trump told "Fox & Friends" hosts, "If, in fact, abortion was outlawed, the person performing the abortion, the doctor or whoever it may be that is really doing the act is responsible for the act, not the woman, is responsible."
"And today, MAGA Republicans refused to repeal that (1864) ban in Arizona. Trump has literally taken us back 160 years."
This leaves out that Trump has criticized Arizona鈥檚 recent legal action affecting abortion access.
On April 9, the ruled in favor of bringing back a Civil War-era law that would ban all abortions except when a pregnant woman's life is endangered. Under the law, abortion providers could face two to five years in prison. Barring other legal or legislative action, the abortion measure could take effect as early as June.
The law is part of Arizona鈥檚 , nearly of laws that governed the Arizona territory before the state鈥檚 official establishment.
Following the court鈥檚 ruling, the blocked efforts to move forward on a repeal of the 1864 law. The launched a similar repeal effort.
The Arizona court concluded that "absent the federal constitutional abortion right" the 1864 law is enforceable. Trump took credit for overturning that federal right.
Following the ruling, , "It's all about state's rights, and that'll be straightened out. I'm sure that the governor and everybody else are going to bring it back into reason and that'll be taken care of, I think, very quickly."
Trump was more specific on two days later, stating that the Arizona court "went too far on their Abortion Ruling, enacting and approving an inappropriate Law from 1864." He called on Arizona lawmakers to "remedy what has happened" and called for exceptions for rape, incest and the pregnant woman鈥檚 life.
"One in three women throughout the United States of America" live in a state with an abortion ban at six weeks or sooner.
. At six weeks, most women and haven鈥檛 had a chance to see a doctor. And the number of women in that statistic is poised to grow when Florida鈥檚 six-week abortion ban takes effect May 1.
If the 1864 Arizona law takes effect, it would ban all abortions except when a pregnant woman's life is in danger. Barring other legal or legislative action, the abortion measure could be instated as early as June, reported.
Excluding Florida and Arizona, about 21.5 million women and girls of reproductive age currently live in states that ban abortions completely, or after six weeks of pregnancy, U.S. Census data shows. That鈥檚 about 29% of women ages 15 to 49.
When adding in states that ban abortion after 12 or 15 weeks of pregnancy, the number of affected women grows to about 25 million, or about 40%.
Our Sources
- C-SPAN, , April 23, 2024
- Arizona Supreme Court,, April 9, 2024
- Former President Donald Trump, , April 12, 2024
- CBS News,, April 10, 2024
- PolitiFact, , May 31, 2023
- PolitiFact, PolitiFact, , June 24, 2022
- PolitiFact, , Jan. 30, 2024
- PolitiFact, , Sept. 19, 2023
- PolitiFact, April 19, 2024
- PolitiFact, , Jan. 23, 2024
- PolitiFact,, March 28, 2024
- FiveThirtyEight, , April 8, 2024
- Brookings Institution, , April 17, 2024
- NPR, March 21, 2024Wisconsin Public Radio, , March 14, 2024
- Wisconsin State Legislature, . Accessed April 23, 2024
- Wisconsin Legislative Reference Bureau, , Aug. 25, 2022
- Arizona State Legislature, , accessed April 18, 2024
- Arizona Capitol Times, , April 21, 2024
- CNN, , April 18, 2024
- U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, , April 22, 2024
