Trump keeps saying some states allow the execution of babies 'after birth.' They don't. Here's how that falsehood got started.

Twice in the past week alone, former President Donald Trump has pushed his often-repeated falsehood that some U.S. states, in their zeal to protect abortion rights, allow for the killing of babies after they are born.

"You know some of the states, like Minnesota and other states have it where you can actually execute the baby after birth. And all of that stuff is unacceptable," Trump told a Fox News reporter on Friday when pressed about whether he would support Florida's Amendment 4, which would enshrine a constitutional right in the state for women to obtain an abortion.

Campaigning in Michigan on Thursday, Trump made that same claim, telling his audience that “in six states you’re allowed to kill the baby after the baby is born. And you know, one of those states is Minnesota.”

In truth, no U.S. state, including Minnesota, allows for the killing of a baby after birth, and numerous fact-checks have pointed this out. But Trump, who appointed three conservative Supreme Court justices and often takes credit for the overturning of Roe v. Wade, has woven this falsehood into campaign speeches, interviews and his debate against President Biden on June 27.

Origin of a falsehood

The first instance of Trump asserting that some states governed by Democrats allow for infanticide appears to have occurred during his 2019 State of the Union address, three years before the Supreme Court overturned Roe.

In a portion of the speech devoted to abortion, Trump took aim at then-Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam, a Democrat who, he claimed, “stated he would execute a baby after birth."

Northam had sparked Republican outrage over comments he made when asked about a hypothetical scenario in which a woman requests an abortion during labor after learning that her fetus has severe deformities or is not viable. Addressing that scenario, Northam said that "the infant would be delivered. The infant would be kept comfortable. The infant would be resuscitated if that's what the mother and the family desired." He never indicated that an abortion could be performed after birth, however.

Northam also supported a proposed state law that would have left the decision to perform late-term abortions up to doctors and patients, but that bill was not passed and is not the law in Virginia.

During the State of the Union address, Trump also falsely said, “You have New York state and other places that passed legislation where you’re allowed to kill the baby after birth.”

Again, no state in the union has passed any such legislation.

Reframing the abortion debate

As Trump continues to peddle the false notion that some states allow infanticide, a growing number of Americans say that abortion is now their top single issue in the 2024 election.

In the wake of the Supreme Court decision overturning Roe, protecting abortion rights has become a winning issue for Democrats. A Gallup poll taken in May found that 85% of Americans think abortion should be legal in at least certain circumstances, while a June Associated Press/NORC poll found that 70% believe abortion should be legal in all or most cases. And according to an April Yahoo News/YouGov poll, a growing majority of Americans want Congress to pass a law that restores Roe v. Wade protections, Yahoo News' Kate Murphy reported.

Yet polls have also found that most Americans believe that some restrictions on when an abortion is performed are warranted. A 2023 NPR/PBS NewsHour/Marist poll, for instance, found that 66% of those surveyed believe that abortion should be allowed only within the first three months of pregnancy. Just 34%, by contrast, said abortion should be permitted in the first six months or at any time during pregnancy.

That may help explain why Trump continues to talk about late-term abortions, as he did again last week.

“The Democrats are radical because the nine months is just a ridiculous situation,” Trump said, “where you can do an abortion in the ninth month.”

In fact, there are six U.S. states — Colorado, Minnesota, New Jersey, New Mexico, Oregon, Vermont — that do not restrict when an abortion can be performed prior to birth.

Yet nationwide, only about 1% of all abortions performed in the U.S. are classified as late term (those performed after 21 weeks of gestation), according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.