(LifeSiteNews) – Businessman, former Republican presidential candidate, and MAGA personality Vivek Ramaswamy declared Tuesday night that the “most important point” of former president and current GOP White House nominee Donald Trump’s first debate with current Vice President and Democrat nominee Kamala Harris was Trump’s emphasizing that he would not ban abortion or embryo-destructive in vitro fertilization (IVF) services.
Trump and Harris squared off in Philadelphia that evening in a debate hosted and moderated by ABC News. Abortion was one of the first subjects to come up, with Harris trying to tie Trump to state pro-life policies while Trump insisted he was not in favor of a national abortion ban and declared himself a “leader” for IVF. For months, he has aggressively signaled his support for the practice, and while it did not come up last night, he has recently proposed federally mandating insurance coverage for IVF.
Appearing on Fox News to react to the debate, Ramaswamy said, “I do think the strongest moment for either candidate that’ll matter three weeks from now is actually Donald Trump being crystal clear on his position on abortion,” which was “one of the issues on which Democrats are trying to hang Republicans out to dry.” He then shared the clip on social media, adding that the “most important point of the debate was Trump stating with crystal clarity to voters that he’s against a federal ban on abortion & he’s a champion for IVF.”
The most important point of the debate was Trump stating with crystal clarity to voters that he’s *against a federal ban* on abortion & he’s a champion for IVF. Democrats have tried to confuse voters on both with outright lies & he nailed both points tonight. pic.twitter.com/XZpm65FOqo
— Vivek Ramaswamy (@VivekGRamaswamy) September 11, 2024
Ramaswamy, who ran unsuccessfully for president himself in this year’s GOP primary but has mostly been a Trump advocate for the past few years, has shifted on life issues along with Trump. In December 2023, he said that the “winning path for the GOP on abortion isn’t to compromise on our principles, it’s to practice what we preach” by making men legally responsible for the babies they conceive. By July, however, he was touting the fact that Trump’s rewritten GOP platform “does NOT support a federal abortion ban,” which Democrats were “freaking out” about because “we’re picking off your voters.”
Trump now opposes further federal action on abortion and supports letting abortion pills be distributed by mail, which along with various other left turns in his latest campaign have caused frustration among many of his past supporters. At the same time, his continued difference from Democrats on issues such as “transitioning” gender-confused minors and Harris and Democrats’ continued support for a comprehensive far-left policy agenda, including unlimited abortion-on-demand, is expected to keep most conservatives and Republicans resigned to accepting him as preferable.
With both campaigns pledging to satisfy their respective bases in some ways while running to the center in others, polling aggregations by RealClearPolitics and RaceToTheWH continue to show Harris leading Trump in both national polling and Electoral College, although their standing has narrowed in recent days.
Both sides are claiming victory from Tuesday’s debate, with many observers finding fault in the performance of each candidate. It remains to be seen whether the debate will translate to changes in the trajectory of the election, but Trump indicated Wednesday on Fox News and Truth Social that he does not want to do more debates.