In Final Debate, Clinton Accuses Trump Of Using ‘Scare Rhetoric’ On Abortion
“If you go with what Hillary is saying, in the ninth month you can take the baby and rip the baby out of the womb of the mother just prior to the birth of the baby," Donald Trump said, after affirming that he would appoint anti-abortion justices to the Supreme Court. Hillary Clinton fired back, saying, "The government has no business in the decisions that women make with their families."
The New York Times:
Donald Trump Won’t Say If He’ll Accept Result Of Election
The two candidates also tangled over abortion rights. After initially declining to flatly say whether he would support overturning Roe v. Wade, the 1973 Supreme Court decision that legalized abortion, Mr. Trump conceded that the justices he would appoint to the court would do just that. “If we put another two or perhaps three justices on, that’s really what will happen,” he said. “That’ll happen automatically in my opinion.” (Healy and Martin, 10/19)
In other news from the debate —
The Washington Post:
Trump, Clinton Answers On Social Security Were Victories For The Left
Chris Wallace’s questions did assume that entitlements needed to be cut. He asked Trump if would “make a deal to save Medicare and Social Security that included both tax increases and benefit cuts, in effect, a grand bargain on entitlements,” and asked Clinton if she would back “a deal that includes both tax increases and benefit cuts.” But neither candidate accepted the premise. Trump insisted, tautologically, that his tax cuts would spur the economy “to grow at a record rate of growth,” solving any problem with entitlement spending. Clinton said she would raise taxes on the rich to expand benefits; “that will come from either raising the cap and/or finding other ways to get more money into it,” she said. “I will not cut benefits. I want to enhance benefits for low-income workers and for women who have been disadvantaged by the current Social Security system.” (Weigel, 10/20)
The Associated Press:
Fact Check: Trump, Clinton And Their Debate Claims
Clinton is basically on target, but Medicare's funding problems are more complicated than she implies. The 2010 health care law was partly financed with cuts in future payments to hospitals, insurers and other Medicare service providers. According to projections at the time, that extended the solvency of the Medicare trust fund to 2029. (Otherwise Medicare would have been unable to fully pay its bills in 2017.) Republican budgets since then have kept Obama's Medicare cuts. But the health care law did not solve Medicare's financial problems. (10/20)
The Associated Press:
Fact Check: Health Insurance Costs Up, But Not Doubling
Premiums are going up, and by double digits in many states, but to say it's over 100 percent is pure hyperbole. The full impact of next year's premium increases is going to take time to sort out and vary across the country. Full information will be available Nov. 1 when the HealthCare.gov market goes live. (10/20)