On Monday, 2020 Democrat Beto O’Rourke answered a question about medically unnecessary third-trimester abortions with the repeated pablum about “reproductive rights.” The candidate suggested that he supports killing a viable baby inside the womb based merely on the mother’s will. On Tuesday, he doubled down on this position.
“Are you for third-trimester abortions or are you going to protect the lives of third-trimester babies?” a questioner asked in a video released by the conservative opposition research firm America Rising. “Because there’s really not a medical necessity for abortion. It’s not a medical emergency procedure because typically third-trimester abortions take up to three days to have so if there was an emergency the doctors would just do a C-section and you don’t have to kill a baby.”
Rather than addressing the life of the unborn child, O’Rourke said he would not protect the lives of babies, even in the third trimester. He skated over the issue of the baby entirely, focusing on the woman’s “right” to an abortion.
“So the question is about abortion and reproductive rights, and my answer to you is that that should be a decision that the woman makes,” O’Rourke said.
Rather than addressing the key issue of an infant’s life in the third trimester, when the baby can survive outside the womb, O’Rourke dismissed these concerns by repeating the tired line of a woman’s right to choose.
In doing so, he fell far outside the American mainstream. While 55 percent of Americans identify as “pro-choice,” a the vast majority of Americans in every party support restricting abortion to the first. three months of pregnancy or to cases of rape and incest or to save the life of the mother, according to a Knights of Columbus/Marist poll released in January. A full 60 percent of Democrats, 92 percent of Republicans, and 72 percent of independents support this kind of abortion restriction.
A majority of American adults (52 percent) agreed that life begins either at conception (42 percent) or in the first three months of pregnancy (10 percent). Only 19 percent said life begins when a fetus is viable outside the womb, and 13 percent said life begins when the baby is born.
This means 71 percent of Americans think life has begun by the third trimester, when an unborn baby can survive outside the womb.
Robert Francis “Beto” O’Rourke supports extreme baby killing in the name of “reproductive rights.” That’s disgusting.
Despite backlash for this stance, O’Rourke doubled down on it on Tuesday.
Thanks to Salena Zito for asking this important question.
My question to @BetoORourke @penn_state on third trimester abortion. Story coming up @dcexaminer. https://t.co/oGqqpmBbYe
— SalenaZito (@SalenaZito) March 19, 2019
Follow Tyler O’Neil, the author of this article, on Twitter at @Tyler2ONeil.
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