Right-wing media figures responded to former President Donald Trump’s poor debate performance on Tuesday night by spreading falsehoods about Minnesota’s abortion law.
During the debate, Trump made false and misleading assertions about legislation enacted by Vice President Kamala Harris’ running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz. “But her vice presidential pick says abortion in the ninth month is absolutely fine,” Trump said. “He also says execution after birth, it's execution, no longer abortion, because the baby is born, is okay.”
As ABC News moderator Linsey Davis noted after Trump’s comments, “There is no state in this country where it is legal to kill a baby after it's born.”
Trump’s comments about “abortion in the ninth month” are also misleading. In 2023, Walz signed the Protect Reproductive Options Act, or PRO Act, into law, further codifying the right to an abortion in Minnesota. As KARE11 reported this April, Minnesota healthcare providers performed only one third-trimester abortion in 2022, the most recent year for which data is available. The same was true in 2019 and 2020. In 2021, a single Minnesota resident was listed as having received a third-trimester abortion, but it was performed out of state. Generally, only about one percent of abortions nationwide occur after 21 weeks.
Despite clear evidence to the contrary, right-wing figures took Trump’s comments and ran with them.
Fox News’ Brian Kilmeade falsely claimed that under Walz, Minnesota performed five “abortions” after a child had been born — in other words, had committed the crime of infanticide. “It soon turned to the fact-checking on abortion, when it come to there’s no abortion after the ninth month, when, in fact, under Gov. Tim Walz, it happened at least five times in Minnesota,” Kilmeade said. “When a moderator … fact-checks you and the moderator is wrong, that's tough on a candidate.”
It’s not entirely clear what Kilmeade is referring to, but he is completely wrong on Minnesota’s abortion laws. In 2021, Minnesota recorded five instances of a “born-alive infant” following an abortion procedure; two were not viable, two were provided “comfort care,” and in the final instance, “fetal anomalies were reported resulting in death shortly after delivery.” In no case was a so-called post-birth abortion performed.
Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk also mischaracterized the 2023 Minnesota legislation, writing on X (formerly Twitter), “The left believes in legal infanticide.”
Contrary to Kirk’s claims, the 2023 law clearly states: “An infant who is born alive shall be fully recognized as a human person, and accorded immediate protection under the law.”
As 10News reported, citing a doctor who supports abortion rights, the law was designed to make “sure doctors aren't forced to prolong the suffering of an infant unable to live on its own.” An editorial in the Minneapolis Star Tribune further explained how the law’s changes supported families by not forcing “an infant with severe anomalies undergo extraordinary and futile medical care.”
Fox News co-host Kayleigh McEnany echoed Kirk’s mischaracterization of the Minnesota law. “Where was the question about Tim Walz allowing babies born alive after abortion to die in Minnesota and then removing reporting requirements?” McEnany wrote on X.
The Daily Wire’s Michael Knowles similarly wrote, “Kamala’s own running mate repealed the legal requirement that physicians attempt to ‘preserve the life and health of the born alive infant.’”
Knowles’ colleague at The Daily Wire, Mary Margaret Olohan, did as well.
Right-wing radio host Erick Erickson made a similar claim, though did not specify that he was talking about Minnesota.
This line of attack against Walz isn’t new. In August, Fox’s McEnany made similar misleading claims, telling her viewers that “his abortion policy allows abortion until birth.”
Reprinted with permission from Media Matters.
