Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) said Sunday on NBC’s “Meet the Press” that American women do not trust former President Donald Trump not to sign a national abortion ban if he is elected in November.
Partial transcript as follows:
KRISTEN WELKER: I want to start off by getting your reaction to what you just heard from Senator J.D. Vance. He says that if legislation banning abortion at the federal level arrived on Donald Trump’s desk, if he were to be elected, he believes he would veto it. What’s your reaction to that, Senator?
WARREN: American women are not stupid, and we are not going to trust the futures of our daughters and granddaughters to two men who have openly bragged about blocking access to abortion for women all across this country. Right now where we are is if Donald Trump and JD Vance take the White House, they have current laws, The Comstock Act, which (with the right person that they put into the Department of Justice and one of their extremist judges out in the world), they can actually ban all access to abortion all across this country. And understand, when I say, “Ban access to abortion,” I don’t mean with, “Oh, exceptions for rape or incest or a 16-week ban,” I mean ban it for every woman any time she needs it. Because once they take the medications off the market, once they take the surgical off the market, they’re not there.
And so for any woman who’s in the middle of a miscarriage, who goes into an emergency room and discovers there’s no medication and no treatment for her because abortion has been banned nationwide, they can thank Donald Trump and J.D. Vance.
WELKER: And just to follow up, Donald Trump, J.D. Vance have been asked about The Comstock Act as well, as you say, which could potentially ban the distribution of medication. Again, they both say, ‘We’re not going to use that to try to ban abortion.’ Sounds like you don’t buy it.
WARREN: Don’t buy it? Just read it. J.D. Vance actually sent a letter last year to the Department of Justice saying, “Enforce The Comstock Act.” And remember, he did that and then Donald Trump picked him to be his vice president. Take a look at Project 2025. It lays out the roadmap for exactly how to do this. And, frankly, when you’ve got a pawn in the Department of Justice and pawns in the judiciary, it isn’t even hard to accomplish. You know, here I’m going to go with vice presidential nominee Tim Walz, who says, “You don’t do a playbook unless you’re planning to use it.” There’s already a plan in place. And, you know, understand this: Today 30% of all women live in states that effectively ban abortion. Donald Trump and J.D. Vance in the White House, it won’t be 30%, it’ll be 100%. The only way that we’re going to protect access to abortion is to have a Democratic Congress send a bill to Kamala Harris. She will sign it into law. And then we will restore a right to half the population in this country. And no longer will a women have to go into an emergency room and be told she’s not near enough death to get the medical treatment that she needs.
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