Donald Trump’s statements during Thursday night’s debate — including that he “did nothing wrong” during Jan. 6 and also never slept with a porn star — were not fact checked by host station CNN, but viewers on social media did not hold back when the former president mentioned “afterbirth abortion.”
“NO ONE ABORTS A BABY AFTER BIRTH! Whether you are pro-choice or anti-abortion that is a FULL LIE,” Julee Jonez wrote on X.
Trump, who energetically tore into a somewhat meek Biden all night, floated the patently false idea that some states are engaging in abortion after birth, or, as he more colorfully phrased it, “rip[ping] the baby out of the womb.”
“Yes, [doctors] can take the life of the baby in the ninth month, and even after birth. Because some states Democrats run take it after birth again, the governor, former governor of Virginia, … So he’s, he’s willing to, as we say, rip the baby out of the womb,” Trump said.
Moderator Jack Tapper was also blasted online for refusing to challenge Trump’s many off-base assertions.
“I’m sorry, but Trump just claimed that Democrats allow ‘after birth’ abortion and the moderators’ only response was ‘thank you’???” tweeted Jessica Valenti. She added, “FACT CHECK THAT S–T LIVE.”
Keith Olbermann also laid into CNN for letting Trump’s lies stand and blasted the network’s “utter failure as a news organization.”
A retired teacher in Kansas City also railed against Trump and CNN: “One more time for the people in the back, there is no such thing as an afterbirth abortion. Just because the people moderating this sorry excuse for a debate capable of fact, checking even the most basic things doesn’t mean the rest of us can’t recognize when we hear it!”
Read more social media reactions on Trump’s abortion lie in the roundup below.
