Fox News host Shannon Bream pressed Minnesota Governor Tim Walz on Sunday about his state’s abortion laws and how that might translate to the national stage.
In January 2023, six months after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned the landmark abortion rights case Roe v. Wade, Minnesota was the first state legislature to codify protections regarding abortion into law.
“You signed a bill that makes it legal through all nine months [of pregnancy]. Is that a position you think Democrats should advocate for nationally?” Bream asked Walz during his first on Fox News Sunday show appearance since being named Vice President Kamala Harris’ running mate.
“Look, the vice president and I have been clear, the restoration of Roe v. Wade is what we’re asking for,” Walz replied.
There are several Minnesota state laws that address reproductive rights, but the Protect Reproductive Rights Act, commonly known as the PRO Act, is the primary legislation that codifies them. The legislation does not include prohibitions on abortions at specific stages of pregnancy.
The law states that “every individual who becomes pregnant has a fundamental right to continue the pregnancy and give birth, or obtain an abortion, and to make autonomous decisions about how to exercise this fundamental right.”
Bream said on Sunday: “But that [Minnesota] law goes far beyond Roe v. Wade.”
“The law is very clear. It does not change that. That has been debunked on every occasion,” Walz replied.
Newsweek has reached out to the Harris-Walz campaign to clarify what has been debunked and for additional comment via email on Sunday.
Bream then pushed back, “What you signed [Minnesota law], there’s not a single limit through nine months of pregnancy, Roe had a trimester framework that did have limits through the pregnancy. The Minnesota law does not have that.”
“This puts the decision with the woman and her health care providers,” Walz said of the Minnesota law.
While most voters say the economy is the top issue in this election, abortion ranks high, especially among Harris voters compared to supporters of former President Donald Trump, the GOP presidential nominee. According to a Pew Research Center poll of 9,720 U.S. adults surveyed between August 26 and September 2, 67 percent of Harris supporters said abortion is “very important” to their vote, compared to 35 percent of Trump supporters.
On Sunday, Walz also said that the former president is “asking for a nationwide abortion ban.” Bream, however, disagreed with that statement, “He has said repeatedly that he will not sign a national abortion ban. Are you calling that just it’s a flat-out lie?”
“Yes, of course,” Walz said.
When the topic of abortion was brought up during the vice-presidential debate between Walz and Ohio Senator JD Vance on Tuesday, Trump posted to his Truth Social account, “I WOULD NOT SUPPORT A FEDERAL ABORTION BAN, UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES, AND WOULD, IN FACT, VETO IT, BECAUSE IT IS UP TO THE STATES TO DECIDE BASED ON THE WILL OF THEIR VOTERS.”
Walz continued on Sunday: “Senator Vance has in the past said so too. And look, they might see this as an election issue, we see it as a right of women to make their own bodily decisions, and that’s what the states like my state, have the ability to put that in.”
Further along in their conversation, Bream said to Walz, “To be clear, the Minnesota law is far beyond Roe v. Wade.“
“We trust women, we trust doctors, and we know the outcomes of that are better,” the governor replied.
Harris’ and Trump’s Stance on Abortion
Abortion and reproductive freedom are main issues of the Harris-Walz campaign. “As President, she will never allow a national abortion ban to become law,” her policy page reads. “And when Congress passes a bill to restore reproductive freedom nationwide, she will sign it.”
Trump’s stance on abortion has recently shifted slightly. Earlier in the campaign, he was much more tight-lipped on the issue, neglecting to mention it in his 2024 campaign platform beyond the promise of “oppos[ing] late-term abortion.”
During the September 10 presidential debate, Trump refused to state whether he would veto a national abortion ban if it landed on his desk, and later in the month, at a rally in Pennsylvania, he praised the “brilliant and brave” Supreme Justices for their role in overturning Roe but added that he agreed with unspecified “exceptions” to bans on abortion.
However, most recently, on October 1, he wrote in all capital letters on Truth Social that he would not support a federal abortion ban. “LIKE RONALD REAGAN BEFORE ME, I FULLY SUPPORT THE THREE EXCEPTIONS FOR RAPE, INCEST, AND THE LIFE OF THE MOTHER,” he wrote.
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