CBS News
Trump says he would veto a federal abortion ban
Former President Donald Trump on Tuesday night for the first time said he would veto a federal abortion ban, a position he has shied away from declaring and is likely to upset his anti-abortion supporters.
In the middle of the vice presidential debate, Trump posted to social media that “everyone knows that 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 (the will of the people!)”
Trump had not previously said if he would veto a national ban. His running mate, Sen. JD Vance, said in August that the former president would veto a national abortion ban, but Trump said during the Sept. 10 debate with Vice President Kamala Harris, “I didn’t discuss it with JD.”
During that same debate, Harris said, “Understand, if Donald Trump were to be reelected, he will sign a national abortion ban.”
Trump responded that was a “lie” and he’s “not signing a ban, and there’s no reason to sign a ban because we’ve gotten what everybody wanted.”
Jim Vondruska / Getty Images
Democrats have tried to tie Trump to the abortion restrictions enacted in 22 states since Roe v. Wade was reversed, as well as to the Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025 initiative. Project 2025 says “the next conservative President should work with Congress to enact the most robust protections for the unborn that Congress will support while deploying existing federal powers to protect innocent life and vigorously complying with statutory bans on the federal funding of abortion.”
Trump had boasted about putting three conservative justices on the Supreme Court who were crucial to overturning Roe v. Wade. In August, Trump said he will vote against a proposed constitutional amendment in Florida which would undo the state’s six-week abortion ban. However, just days prior to that, he had said in an interview that six weeks “is too short.”
“There has to be more time,” he said at the time. “I am going to be voting that we need more than six weeks.”
He has insisted that giving states’ the authority to make abortion law is what people wanted.
In Tuesday’s debate, Vance said he never supported a national ban, although he said when running for Senate in 2022 that he “certainly would like abortion to be illegal nationally.” Vance also disputed the moderators’ calling a federal 15-week restriction a “ban,” saying he supported a “minimum national standard.”
Trump’s post Tuesday also falsely claimed that Democrats support late-term abortions and the “execution” of babies after they are born, a false claim he has repeated on the campaign trail.
contributed to this report.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed retaliation for Iran’s missile attack against Israel, saying Tehran would “pay for it.”
“The regime of Iran does not understand our determination to defend ourselves,” Netanyahu said in a statement delivered shortly after the attack, which came on the eve Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year. “They will understand. We will stand by the rule we established: Whoever attacks, we will attack them.”
Iran launched at least 180 ballistic missiles toward Israel Tuesday evening, prompting alerts for people to take shelter across the country. The missiles were seen entering Israeli airspace from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.
Abdel Kareem Hana / AP
Israel Defense Forces spokesperson Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari said many of the missiles were intercepted by Israel’s air defense systems, though some landed in southern and central Israel.
The U.S. helped Israel defend against Iran’s attack. In a statement late Tuesday night, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said “U.S. forces in the Middle East intercepted multiple missiles launched by Iran toward Israel,” calling it an “outrageous act of aggression by Iran.”
About 45 minutes after the attack began, and after multiple waves of interceptions, people were given the all-clear to leave their shelters.
Tsafrir Abayov / AP
Rescue services in Israel said two people were wounded by shrapnel, though their wounds were not serious. Palestinian authorities in the West Bank said one Palestinian man was killed by a missile that landed in Jericho, though it wasn’t clear where the missile came from, The Associated Press reported.
Iran said the barrage of missiles was its response to Israeli strikes against its proxy group, Hezbollah, in Lebanon.
Israel has carried out numerous airstrikes in southern Lebanon and Beirut in recent days, killing the leader of Hezbollah, Hassan Nasrallah, and causing a million people in Lebanon to be displaced from their homes, according to Lebanon’s prime minister. Earlier on Tuesday, Israel said it had also launched a limited ground incursion into southern Lebanon.
It was unclear on Wednesday what kind of response to the Iranian missile attack Israel was planning to carry out, but concern was growing that it could spark a wider war in the region.
Iran’s armed forces joint chief, Maj. Gen. Mohammad Bagheri, said any further retaliatory actions against Iran would be met with attacks on Israeli infrastructure.
“If [Israel]… wants to continue these crimes or wants to do anything against our sovereignty and territorial integrity, tonight’s operation will be repeated several times stronger and all their infrastructure will be targeted,” Bagheri said, according to CBS News partner network BBC News.
For more than 90 minutes on live TV, the 2024 vice presidential nominees, Republican Sen. JD Vance of Ohio and Democratic Gov. Tim Walz of Minnesota, sparred over a wide range of issues in the first and only VP debate of the campaign, hosted by CBS News. If you missed the debate Tuesday night, you can watch a replay of the full broadcast in the video player above.
The two candidates faced questions from moderators Norah O’Donnell and Margaret Brennan about the economy, immigration, abortion rights, the conflict in the Middle East, climate change, health care, housing costs and more — and offered sometimes sharply different visions for the nation’s future.
Immediately following the debate, CBS News surveyed voters nationwide who reported watching it in order to get their reaction. They were almost evenly divided over who they thought won — 42% said Vance and 41% said Walz, while 17% considered it a tie. A large majority, 88%, said they thought the tone of the debate was generally positive.
Watch CBS News
Be the first to know
Get browser notifications for breaking news, live events, and exclusive reporting.