USA Today appeared to alter a Monday headline on former President Donald Trump’s abortion stance after President Joe Biden’s campaign blasted the outlet’s coverage.
Trump said on Monday that states should craft their own abortion laws, which many, including USA Today, interpreted to mean he was against any national regulation. However, the Biden campaign objected to headlines by USA Today and other corporate media outlets in a press call, saying it was a certainty that Trump would ban abortion nationally if reelected. (RELATED: Florida Supreme Court Orders Abortion Amendment Be Placed On Ballot In November)
USA Today’s initial headline was “‘The will of the people’: Trump opposes national abortion ban; says states should decide.” Mediaite first reported the change.
“Trump kept his word to overturn Roe in his last term, and he will not rest until he has banned abortion across the entire country. Period,” Biden campaign Deputy Communications Director Brooke Goren said on the call. “We all know this and the coverage needs to reflect it.”
Goren called USA Today’s headline “particularly egregiously false.”
‘The will of the people’: Trump opposes national abortion ban; says states should decide issuehttps://t.co/Lpqts0sYpq
— USA TODAY (@USATODAY) April 8, 2024
After the call, the outlet appeared to change the headline to, “Donald Trump says states should decide abortion policy, avoids talk of a national ban,” without adding any editor’s note.
Trump stressed his support for states to make their own laws in a series of Monday Truth Social posts in response to Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina disagreeing with his stance.
The former president said Graham’s opposition to abortion being a states’ right issue will benefit Democrats in elections.
“Our mission is to report the facts as accurately as possible,” a USA Today spokesperson told the Daily Caller News Foundation. “As part of our routine editorial process with breaking news, headline updates are not uncommon. In this instance, the headline was updated to more precisely reflect the story.”
Many pro-life leaders attacked Trump for his stance, while others stated that they were disappointed but hope to “educate” the former president if he gets reelected.
Biden received about 92% of the black vote in 2020, but he has been losing substantial support from them since, according to polls. Polling has also suggested the president has lost support among younger voters as he faces opposition for his management of the Israel-Hamas conflict.
Goren did not respond to the DCNF’s request for comment.
Editor’s note: This article has been updated to include comment from USA Today.
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