By Ben Johnson

Vice President Kamala Harris promised a presidency that “brings values” that demean pro-life laws protecting unborn children as “immoral,” while endorsing a national abortion expansion during a poorly moderated debate with former President Donald Trump. Trump, meanwhile, seemed to scuttle reports that he would veto any and all national pro-life laws that reach his desk as president.

The two presidential hopefuls faced off at the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia on Tuesday night in a 90-minute debate remembered more for the words of its moderators than its participants. David Muir and Linsey Davis of ABC News repeatedly contradicted Trump while allowing Harris to get by with numerous lies and falsehoods uncorrected. Although the rules called for the candidates’ microphones to be muted between questions, both candidates repeatedly spoke out of turn. In all, Trump spoke for 42 minutes, while Harris talked for 37 minutes.

Although Trump debated President Joe Biden on June 27 — a performance so discrediting that Biden bowed out of the presidential race on July 21 and coronated Harris as his hand-picked successor — he and Harris never debated before. Harris awkwardly introduced herself by name at the beginning of the debate.

Abortion came up early in the debate, as Harris defended the death-inflicting procedure as compatible with her morals and insisted the death of innocents does not violate any religion. Harris claimed, after the 2022 Dobbs decision, “now in over 20 states there are Trump abortion bans which make it criminal for a doctor or nurse to provide health care” — by which she meant bans on taking the life of an innocent person through abortion. She blasted those which do not allow abortionists to kill an innocent child conceived in rape, who did nothing to deserve the death penalty.

“That is immoral,” Harris pontificated.

Harris, who boasted she “brings values” to the White House, then repeated one of the many shopworn phrases she said during the debate: “One does not have to abandon their faith or deeply held beliefs to agree the government, and Donald Trump certainly, should not be telling a woman what to do with her body.” Christians have held that abortion violates their faith, and should be illegal, for 2,000 years. Orthodox Jews also say they hold a pro-life faith.

The Satanic Temple regards abortion as a sacrament.

As she has throughout the campaign, Harris promised to impose abortion on all 50 states by force. “I pledge to you when Congress passes a bill to put back in place the protections of Roe v. Wade as president of the United States, I will proudly sign it into law,” she said. “But, understand, if Donald Trump were to be re-elected, he will sign a national abortion ban. Understand, in his Project 2025, there would be a national abortion ban.”

The Biden-Harris administration has endorsed a bill that goes beyond Roe, allowing abortion until birth nationwide. The Democratic Party platform also supports taxpayer-funded abortions in the United States and around the world.

President Trump countered that her party’s view lies far outside the American mainstream. “The Democrats are radical” on abortion, replied Trump. Harris’s running mate, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, “says abortion in the ninth month is absolutely fine.” Last January, Walz signed the Protection of Reproductive Options (PRO) Act, which allows unlimited abortion-on-demand until birth. The Minnesota governor also removed a requirement that babies born alive during botched abortions receive potentially life-saving care. He also increased government payments to abortionists, curtailed funding for pro-life pregnancy resource centers, and rescinded a requirement that abortionists adequately inform mothers about the possibly life-threatening procedure they’re about to undergo.

Trump cited comments from Democrats that abortionists could allow an infant born alive during a botched abortion to die without medical treatment. Liberals support “execution after birth,” added Trump. “That’s not okay with me.”

ABC’s Linsey Davis promptly inserted a comment that such procedures are already illegal, and Harris erroneously stated that late-term abortions do not take place. However, the Biden-Harris administration’s CDC reports tens of thousands of abortions after 21 weeks, and an unknown number of children are born alive during botched abortions. “State-level abortion reporting statistics from nine states show that at least 277 infants have survived abortion since 2006,” according to a new report from Mary Szoch, director of the Center for Human Dignity at Family Research Council — and that only accounts for eight states’ fatalities.

Trump attempted to thread the needle, boasting of his role in overturning Roe v. Wade while seemingly foreclosing any future federal pro-life protections. “I did a great service” in appointing three of the six justices who overturned Roe v. Wade in the June 2022 Dobbs decision, because now the issue of abortion is “not tied up in the federal government,” he said.

Trump made news when asked if he would veto any national pro-life legislation that reached his desk, as his running mate, Ohio Senator J.D. Vance ®, had said. “I didn’t discuss it with J.D.,” Trump replied. “I think he was speaking for me, but I really didn’t.” He said there is no need to discuss a veto, because national abortion legislation would “never get the vote” necessary to pass Congress.

Polls show a vast majority of Americans oppose overseas funding of abortion and late-term abortion, which remains legal — and practiced — across the United States. Congressional majorities may emerge on both issues after the November election. Trump reiterated his support for abortion in cases of rape and incest, and seemed content to leave the issue up to the states.

“This is an issue that’s torn our country apart for 52 years,” said Trump of abortion. “It’s the vote of the people now.”

Harris successfully ducked the question. “Would you support any restrictions on a woman’s right to an abortion?” asked Davis.

“I absolutely support reinstating the protections of Roe v. Wade,” she replied, which would allow abortions through all nine months of pregnancy. She then facetiously denied late-term abortions took place. “Nowhere in America is a woman carrying a pregnancy to term and asking for an abortion. That is not happening,” Harris falsely stated.

The debate featured Harris in prosecutorial mode, focused on her attack lines and frequently baiting the 45th president into discussing niche issues that turned off swing voters in the suburbs, such as Harris’s biracial identity, the 2020 election outcome, the January 6 riot, and the size of his crowds. Harris largely managed to wiggle out of uncomfortable questions without any scrutiny from the moderators.

Trump did score points on numerous issues and clearly shellshocked Harris when she accused him of being a threat to the American form of government.

“It’s up to the American people to stop him,” Harris said.

“I probably took a bullet to the head because of the things that they say about me,” replied Trump, referring to a near-fatal assassination attempt on the other side of Pennsylvania on July 13.

Moderator David Muir promptly cut Trump off. “We have a lot to get to,” Muir interrupted.

At times, the debate seemed more between Trump and the moderators than Harris. Numerous commentators referred to the spectacle as a “three-on-one” debate. “I am absolutely disgusted by what we just witnessed,” said Greg Kelly of Newsmax immediately after the debate. CNN contributor David Urban noted that the “moderators have their thumb on the scale.”

The Harris campaign was so satisfied with the outcome that it has reportedly floated the possibility of holding a second debate with Trump. The president told Sean Hannity that the Harris team is asking for a rematch “because she lost.” Republican presidential candidates have typically not fared well during the first debate: Ronald Reagan did poorly in 1984. Michael Dukakis was believed to defeat George H.W. Bush in 1988. George W. Bush stammered his way to a tie with John Kerry in 2004. And Donald Trump did not score a knockout punch in his first 2016 debate against Hillary Clinton.

All rebounded in the second debate en route to winning the presidential election in November.

Ben Johnson is senior reporter and editor at The Washington Stand.