--- title: Biden and Trump Clash Over Abortion in First Debate description: Here’s what the candidates said when asked about abortion in the first debate of the 2024 election. canonical: https://time.com/6993365/biden-trump-abortion-first-presidential-debate-2024/ author: Chantelle Lee article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2024-06-28T02:55:00.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-24T17:51:54.723Z article:section: Politics og:title: Biden and Trump Clash Over Abortion in First Debate og:description: Here’s what the candidates said when asked about abortion in the first debate of the 2024 election. og:url: https://time.com/6993365/biden-trump-abortion-first-presidential-debate-2024/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta246d81fa6f3be67/698a584c47ca385da63bdb10/biden-trump-debate-abortion.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 2400 og:image:height: 1350 og:image:alt: biden-trump-debate-abortion og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Biden and Trump Clash Over Abortion in First Debate twitter:description: Here’s what the candidates said when asked about abortion in the first debate of the 2024 election. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta246d81fa6f3be67/698a584c47ca385da63bdb10/biden-trump-debate-abortion.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Biden and Trump Clash Over Abortion in First Presidential Debate > Sponsored content. 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It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. by [Chantelle Lee](https://time.com/author/chantelle-lee/) ## Chantelle Lee Reporter Jun 28, 2024 2:55 AM UTC  Former President Donald Trump and President Joe Biden participate in the CNN Presidential Debate at the CNN Studios in Atlanga on June 27, 2024. Former President Donald Trump and President Joe Biden participate in the CNN Presidential Debate at the CNN Studios in Atlanga on June 27, 2024. Andrew Caballero-Reynolds—AFP/Getty Images by [Chantelle Lee](https://time.com/author/chantelle-lee/) ## Chantelle Lee Reporter Jun 28, 2024 2:55 AM UTC [President Joe Biden](https://time.com/6984970/joe-biden-2024-interview/) and former [President Donald Trump](https://time.com/6972021/donald-trump-2024-election-interview/) clashed over abortion in the first presidential debate for the 2024 election Thursday night. The two candidates traded barbs with one another when CNN moderator Dana Bash asked where they stood on abortion early on in the debate. Biden committed to restoring _Roe v. Wade_, the landmark Supreme Court decision that protected the right to abortion in the U.S. in 1973 and was overturned in 2022\. Meanwhile, Trump, who has said that [he wouldn’t sign a federal abortion ban but would let states](https://time.com/6972021/donald-trump-2024-election-interview/) monitor women’s pregnancies and prosecute people who violate their restrictive laws, applauded the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn _Roe_ while adding that he would support exceptions to abortion bans for rape, incest, and the life of the mother. “It’s bringing it back to the vote of the people, which is what everybody wanted, including the founders,” Trump said. “Everybody wanted it brought back. And many Presidents had tried to get it back. I was the one to do it.” “The idea,” Biden shot back later, “that the founders wanted the politicians to be the ones making decisions about women’s health is ridiculous.” **Read More**: [_TV Debates Have Always Been About Sound Bites Over Substance_](https://time.com/6992707/tv-presidential-debates-substance/) When asked about his stance on abortion pills, after the [Supreme Court struck down](https://time.com/6988192/supreme-court-abortion-pill-mifepristone-decision/) a challenge to the pregnancy termination pill mifepristone this month, Trump said that he wouldn’t block the medications. But he repeatedly slammed Biden for vowing to restore _Roe_, erroneously saying that doing so would allow doctors under the Biden administration to “take the life of the baby in the ninth month, and even after birth.” (Abortions don’t happen “after birth,” which would be infanticide, a crime in all states.) Abortions later in pregnancy are rare—in 2021, less than 1% of abortions took place after 21 weeks of pregnancy, according to the [Centers for Disease Control and Prevention](https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/72/ss/ss7209a1.htm#T10%5Fdown). Biden condemned Trump’s role in the overturning of _Roe_, as Trump appointed three of the justices that [ruled in favor](https://www.npr.org/2022/06/24/1102305878/supreme-court-abortion-roe-v-wade-decision-overturn) of overturning it. “It’s been a terrible thing what you’ve done,” Biden said to Trump. The President lambasted abortion restrictions, zeroing in on Republican-led states—like Georgia, where Thursday night’s debate took place—that [ban abortion after six weeks of pregnancy](https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2024/us/abortion-laws-roe-v-wade.html), which is [before many women even know if they’re pregnant](https://www.cnn.com/2019/05/09/health/pregnancy-at-six-weeks/index.html). Trump argued that “everybody, without exception, Democrats, Republicans, liberals, conservatives” wanted _Roe_ to be repealed so that states could individually make their own laws on abortion. Biden called that claim “just ridiculous,” arguing that “the vast majority of constitutional scholars” supported _Roe_ when it was first decided. Many polls have shown that Americans now [largely support](https://www.nytimes.com/2023/06/23/us/roe-v-wade-abortion-views.html) legal abortion. Reproductive rights groups took to social media during the debate, railing against Trump for his comments on abortion. [Planned Parenthood Action](https://x.com/PPact/status/1806498582880526532) posted on X: “This disinformation about abortion is meant to confuse people and distract from what Trump and his allies really want to do—ban all abortions.” ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/6993365/biden-trump-abortion-first-presidential-debate-2024/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/6993365/biden-trump-abortion-first-presidential-debate-2024/"},"headline":"Biden and Trump Clash Over Abortion in First Presidential Debate","datePublished":"2024-06-28T02:55:00.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-24T17:51:54.723Z","description":"Here’s what the candidates said when asked about abortion in the first debate of the 2024 election.","url":"https://time.com/6993365/biden-trump-abortion-first-presidential-debate-2024/","keywords":["2024 Elections","overnight","News Desk"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta246d81fa6f3be67/698a584c47ca385da63bdb10/biden-trump-debate-abortion.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Chantelle Lee","jobTitle":"Reporter","url":"https://time.com/author/chantelle-lee/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta246d81fa6f3be67/698a584c47ca385da63bdb10/biden-trump-debate-abortion.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"biden-trump-debate-abortion","caption":"Former President Donald Trump and President Joe Biden participate in the CNN Presidential Debate at the CNN Studios in Atlanga on June 27, 2024.","creditText":"Andrew Caballero-Reynolds—AFP/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/2024-election/","name":"2024 Elections"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/6993365/biden-trump-abortion-first-presidential-debate-2024/","name":"Biden and Trump Clash Over Abortion in First Presidential Debate"}}]}] ```