“As you know, it’s all about states’ rights – that’ll be straightened out,” the Republican presidential candidate told reporters in Atlanta ahead of a local fundraiser. “And I’m sure that the governor and everybody else are going to bring it back into reason, and that will be taken care of, I think, very quickly.”
Trump had attempted to neutralise the issue on Monday, saying abortion rights should be left up to individual states and reiterating his support for exceptions in cases of rape, incest and threats to the mother’s life.
Jen Cox, senior advisor for Biden’s campaign in Arizona, said the ruling should be laid squarely at Trump’s feet.
“What’s happening in Arizona is only possible because Donald Trump overturned Roe v. Wade – it’s cruel and it’s a direct threat to our health and freedoms,” she said.
Democrats have made clear their intention to put abortion front and centre in November, two years after the Supreme Court – powered by a conservative majority that Trump installed – overturned the landmark 1973 Roe v. Wade decision and ruled that abortion was not constitutionally protected.
That decision galvanised Democratic voters and was widely credited with helping the party over-perform in the 2022 congressional midterm election.
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Reproductive rights advocates are working to put a ballot measure to voters in November that would enshrine abortion protections into the Arizona state constitution. Organisers say they have already gathered the signatures needed to qualify the referendum for the ballot.
The campaign behind the ballot initiative, Arizona for Abortion Access, received a deluge of messages from residents asking how to help after this week’s ruling, crashing its website, spokesperson Dawn Penich said.
Following the Arizona ruling, Democrats held press events focused on reproductive rights in Arizona as well as other battleground states Georgia, Florida and North Carolina. Vice President Kamala Harris will visit Arizona on Friday, the White House said.
The Biden campaign also bumped up its spending in Arizona on a searing advertisement released on Monday, in which a Texas woman tearfully describes almost dying after she was denied an abortion following a miscarriage. Across a black screen, the words “Donald Trump did this” flash as her sobs continue in the background.
Asked at the White House what he would say to the people of Arizona, Biden replied, “Elect me”.
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Gunner Ramer, the political director for the anti-Trump Republican Accountability political action committee, said the ruling would bolster Democratic efforts to portray Republicans as too extreme.
“This presents a great opportunity for Biden to go on offence against Trump,” he said.
State statistics show there were 11,407 abortions performed in Arizona in 2022, the latest year for which data was available. About half were done surgically and half through medication; both methods will soon be outlawed. More than 90 per cent were done before 14 weeks of pregnancy.
Nearly 45 per cent of abortions were given to Hispanic or Latino women, according to state data.
Reuters, AP
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