Haley spars with Republican rivals at 3rd primary debate as Trump still looms

Near the end of the night, the candidates were asked to address the path forward for Republicans on abortion restrictions in light of Democrats' successes Tuesday night, which included Ohio voters adding abortion rights to their state constitution.

"I understand that some of these states are doing it a little bit different. Texas is not going to do it the same as New Hampshire. Iowa is not necessarily going to do it the same as Virginia. So you've got to work from the bottom up," DeSantis said.

Haley said they need to find "consensus" and "don't need to divide America over this issue anymore."

"Let's agree on how we can ban late-term abortions. Let's make sure we encourage adoptions. Let's make sure we make contraception accessible. Let's make sure none of these state laws put a woman in jail or give her the death penalty for getting an abortion," she said.

Scott reiterated his call for a "15-week federal limit" and promoted adoption.

Asked whether she would support such a ban, Haley said she would "support anything that would pass," but said the Senate doesn't have the votes.

Ramaswamy did not say whether he would support a 15-week ban when asked. In addition to access to contraception and adoption, he said the "missing ingredient" is "sexual responsibility for men."

Christie said the issue should be left up to the states but said the "bigger issue" was supporting people through challenges post-birth, such as tackling drug addiction.

"Pro-life is not just in the womb," he said. "It's for the whole life."

“Three out of four Americans agree with a 15-week limit,” Scott said.

Survey data varies on this question. A June 2023 poll sponsored by Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America, an anti-abortion group, and conducted by the Tarrance Group, found that 77% of respondents said abortions should be prohibited at conception, after six weeks or after 15 weeks.

But this poll was sponsored by a group with a position on the issue, and both questions told respondents that fetuses can feel pain at 15 weeks -- an assertion that is not the universal consensus among medical experts.

Independent polls found a range of results on the question of an abortion ban after 15 weeks. A July 2022 survey from Harvard University’s Center for American Political Studies and the Harris Poll found that 23% of respondents said their state should ban abortion after 15 weeks, 12% said it should be banned at six weeks and 37% said it should be allowed only in cases of rape and incest. Collectively, that’s 72% who supported a ban at 15 weeks or less.

In two subsequent polls, the support for abortion at 15 weeks or less was not as strong. A September 2022 Economist/YouGov poll found that 39% of respondents supported a ban on abortions after 15 weeks, and 46% opposed it. And a June 2023 Associated Press-NORC poll found that for abortion up to 15 weeks, 51% of respondents said they would allow it, while 45% said they would ban it.

-Analysis by Aaron Sharockman of PolitiFact

After a commercial break, candidates were asked about what they would do to stop the flow of fentanyl into the country.

Many of them took aim at China and what was being brought into the U.S. across the border. Scott called for closing the southern border, and DeSantis repeated his argument for using military force against the drug cartels, which has drawn criticism from some who say it would be untenable as the cartels are in a foreign country that is an ally. Ramaswamy rejected the term "overdose" when it comes to fentanyl, instead calling it "closer to bioterrorism" that warrants an aggressive response.

Christie and Haley also addressed the need for more treatment options for those struggling with addiction.

"For every family there tonight who has lost a loved one to fentanyl or to any other type of opioid overdose, what you know is all you want is a chance for them to win their lives back," Christie said. "When I'm president of the United States, we're going to call this what it is. It is a disease. Like heart disease, diabetes or any other disease like cancer that can be treated, should be treated. We not only have to stop supply, but we have to lower demand and save lives."

Haley said she agreed with the former New Jersey governor and that the focus should also be on mental health and addiction centers.

-ABC News' Alexandra Hutzler

“When we cut taxes in 2017, I wrote The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act. Everybody said, 'Well guess what? Revenue will go down.' Well in 2018, after we wrote it in 2017, what happened? Revenue went up by 3%, and the next year, it went up by another 3%,” Scott said. “So what we know is that the Laffer Curve still works. That the lower the tax, the higher the revenue."

If you look at the sheer number of dollars collected, irrespective of inflation and without regard to the size of the overall economy or other factors, tax revenues went up very slightly.

Specifically, federal data shows that tax revenues rose between fiscal year 2017 and fiscal year 2018 by 0.4%. (Federal fiscal years run from Oct. 1 to Sept. 30.) The rise is smaller than almost every previous year since World War II, except for a handful of years in which tax revenues declined, largely due to recessions.
But even that increase isn’t really applicable because the fiscal year is different from the tax year.

And the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, a group that favors shrinking the federal deficit, found that the small increase in nominal dollars collected disappears once you add in other factors. If you adjust for inflation, the group found, tax revenues actually fell by 1.6%.
-Analysis by Aaron Sharockman, PolitiFact