Kamala Harris Blames Trump for Abortion Ban: 'Enough With the Gaslighting'

Vice President Kamala Harris is laying the blame for the revival of Arizona's 160-year-old abortion ban squarely at the feet of former President Donald Trump, accusing the ex-president of "gaslighting" over the issue.

Arizona's Supreme Court on Tuesday ruled in favor of the enforceability of a near-total abortion ban enacted in 1864, decades before Arizona even became a state. Federal abortion rights were dismantled by the 2022 U.S. Supreme Court decision ruling that overturned Roe v. Wade, the 1973 decision that established the medical procedure as a constitutional right.

Trump, having previously expressed concern that a firm anti-abortion stance could be a liability for himself and other Republicans in the November elections, announced that he would not support any federal abortion ban one day before the Arizona ruling was issued, saying that "whatever [states] decide must be the law of the land."

The former president has since attempted to further distance himself from his previous persona as a champion of the "pro-life" movement, arguing earlier this week that Arizona "went too far" by reviving the archaic law and claiming that overturning Roe, a measure for which he has repeatedly taken credit, was solely about "states' rights."

Harris, expected to face Trump and his eventual running mate alongside President Joe Biden in November, argued that the former president was responsible for the Arizona law and other "Trump abortion bans" during a campaign stop in Tucson on Friday, calling the reversal of Roe "the opening act of a larger strategy to take women's rights and freedoms."

"We all must understand who is to blame," Harris said. "Former President Donald Trump did this. During his campaign in 2016, Donald Trump said women should be punished for seeking an abortion ... As president, Donald Trump handpicked three members of the Supreme Court because he intended for them to overturn Roe."

"And now, because of Donald Trump, more than 20 states in our nation have bans," she continued. "One in three women of reproductive age in our country live in a state that has a Trump abortion ban ... Now Trump wants us to believe he will not sign a national ban? Enough with the gaslighting."

Trump spokesperson Steven Cheung responded to Newsweek's request for comment on Harris' remarks by saying the following via email: "President Trump could not have been more clear. These decisions should be left to the states to 'determine by vote or legislation or perhaps both.'"

During a joint press conference with Speaker of the House Mike Johnson on Friday, Trump again boasted about his role in overturning Roe after being asked by a reporter "why should Americans trust" his pledge to not sign a national ban, which he previously promised to do as president in 2018.

"Because we don't need it [a national ban] any longer," Trump responded. "Because we broke Roe v. Wade and we did something that nobody thought was possible. We gave it back to the states. And the states are working very brilliantly."

Trump then falsely asserted that all "real legal scholars" wanted abortion rights to "go back to the states," whether they are "Democrat, Republican, liberal [or] conservative."

"You know, what we did was give it back to the states," he continued. "And now the states are working their way through it. And you're having some very, very beautiful harmony, to be honest with you."

On Wednesday, Trump insisted that Democratic Arizona Governor Katie Hobbs "and everybody else" would quickly take steps to bring the 1864 law "back to within reason," calling his "states' rights" stance "a perfect system."

Republican Arizona lawmakers blocked an initial attempt to repeal the ban by Democrats in the state House later the same day.

Update 04/12/24, 8:49 p.m. ET: This article has been updated to include comments from Trump spokesperson Steven Cheung.