WASHINGTON — Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.), a 2020 Democratic presidential candidate, said President Donald Trump “emboldened” states like Alabama to pass anti-abortion laws.
Gillibrand accused Trump of “lying” about his abortion position on Twitter after Alabama Governor Kay Ivey signed a bill that bans abortions unless its “necessary in order to prevent a serious health risk.”
On Saturday, Trump tweeted that he is “strongly Pro-Life, with the three exceptions – Rape, Incest and protecting the Life of the mother – the same position taken by Ronald Reagan.”
Gillibrand was asked for her reaction to Trump’s statement about abortion on Twitter.
“He’s lying and he’s the one who has emboldened these legislatures to pass these radical bills because he’s nominated Supreme Court justices who intend to overturn Roe v. Wade,” Gillibrand said after speaking at an abortion-rights rally, which was held outside of the Supreme Court on Tuesday in response to the Alabama abortion ban. “President Trump has started an all-out assault on women’s reproductive freedom and our basic civil and human rights and we have to fight.”
Gillibrand encouraged abortion rights advocates “to march, to organize, to vote and make sure their voice is heard at the ballot box and in their communities.”
Abortion rights activists at the protest chanted, “The Capitol is not a church” and “the Supreme Court is not a church.” Other protesters chanted, “No vagina, no vote.”
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