Norah O'Donnell had an inflammatory question about abortion for Tim Walz

CBS News anchor Norah O'Donnell confronted Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz (D) with a blunt question about abortion rights during the vice presidential debate between Walz and Sen. JD Vance (R-Ohio) on Tuesday night.

“After Roe v. Wade was ousted, you signed a bill that made Minnesota one of the least restrictive states in the country when it comes to abortion,” O'Donnell began.

“Former President Trump said in the last debate that you believe an abortion at nine months is 'absolutely OK.' Yes or no?”

Walz objected to the wording of the question, saying, “That’s not in the bill.”

He then emphasized the importance of preserving the ability of patients and physicians to make their own reproductive health decisions.

“Look, this issue is on everyone’s mind,” Walz said. “Donald Trump made all of this happen. He bragged about how great it was that he installed the justices and overturned Roe v. Wade had overthrown – 52 years of personal autonomy. And then he tells us, 'Oh, send it to the States, it's a beautiful thing.'”

“Amanda Zurawski wouldn't agree with you when it comes to 'that's a beautiful thing,'” Walz said, referring to the Texas woman who, along with several others, led a lawsuit last year challenging her state's strict abortion laws . Zurawski argued that losing access to timely abortion care almost cost her her life.

“A young bride in Texas waiting for her child at 18 weeks. She has a complication, a tear in the membrane. She has to go in,” Walz continued. “Medical care must be decided by the doctor at that point, and that would have been an abortion.” But in Texas, that would have put her in legal jeopardy. She went home, got sepsis and almost died, and now she might have trouble having children.”

He also mentioned Hadley Duvall, a Kentucky woman who was raped and impregnated by her stepfather when she was 12 and who has participated in campaign ads for Vice President Kamala Harris and the Democrats. Later, Walz referred to Amber Nicole Thurman, a 28-year-old woman from Georgia who died after attempting to seek an abortion due to a pregnancy complication.

“So, Minnesota, we restored Roe vs. Wade. We have ensured that women take responsibility for their health care,” Walz said.

The Midwestern state is indeed very protective of abortion care, quickly passing new protections in January 2023 after the Supreme Court struck down the nation's right to abortion in the summer of 2022.

However, the law does not say that abortion in the ninth month of pregnancy is “absolutely OK,” nor does it encourage these procedures per se—it just does not prohibit them. In rare cases they are deemed necessary. The vast majority of abortions occur relatively early in pregnancy; If an abortion is performed later, it is usually due to health problems in the fetus or concerns about the patient's health. (It is illegal anywhere in the country to kill a newborn, although Trump and other Republicans have suggested that Democrats also encourage the practice.)

“In Minnesota, we are first in healthcare for a reason: We trust women, we trust doctors,” Walz said.

Jessica Valenti, a journalist who frequently writes about reproductive health, said the wording of the question was “really frustrating.”

Mini Timmaraju, president and CEO of Reproductive Freedom for All, wrote on social media that the reproductive rights portion of the debate “was strong for Gov. Walz.”

“But as a colleague who was not on this platform noted, 'The fact that 45 minutes into the debate, their FIRST abortion question was about whether women in Minnesota have TOO many rights?' ..problematic.”

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