Global Courant 2023-05-15 02:18:06
GOP presidential candidate Nikki Haley refused on Sunday to pass a federal abortion ban, saying it wouldn’t be fair for a Republican to promise such an unrealistic prospect to the American people.
In an interview on CBS’Face the nationHaley, who was ambassador to the United Nations and governor of South Carolina, said, “For a national standard, I think we should tell the American people the truth.”
She pointed to the political reality of Congress passing federal legislation: “To pass a national standard, you would need a majority of the House, 60 votes in the Senate and a president. We don’t have 60 pro -life votes.” senators in 100 years.”
“So the idea that a Republican president could ban all abortions is not fair to the American people, any more than a Democratic president could ban these pro-life laws in the state,” Haley said. “So let’s be honest with the American people and say, let’s seek national consensus. Let’s agree on abolishing late abortions.”
CBS’s Margaret Brennan noted that Senator Tim Scott, RS.C., who is exploring a 2024 presidential nomination, recently approved a 20-week abortion ban — “so he chooses a week” of pregnancy — before asking Haley: ” Some of your fellow Republicans are why do you think that’s deception?”
Haley argued that it would be unrealistic to approve a specific number of weeks of pregnancy, when the Senate filibuster would likely stand in the way of a strict federal ban on abortion.
“I’m not going to lie to the American people. Nothing happens if we don’t get 60 votes in the Senate. On the Republican or Democratic side, we’re not even close to that,” she said.
“Why do people try to divide further? Why don’t we talk about the fact that we should try to save as many babies as possible and support as many mothers as possible?” Haley added. “I think the media has tried to divide them by saying we have certain weeks to decide. In states “Yes. At the federal level, it’s not realistic. It’s not being fair to the American people.”
Haley recently called for “consensus” on the issue of abortion and downplayed the importance of the debate over exceptions and weeks of pregnancy. However, she made it clear that she does see a federal role in abortion.
“My goal as president will be the same as when I was governor and ambassador: I want to save as many lives as possible and help as many mothers as possible,” Haley said last month. “At the federal level, the next president must find national consensus.”
Republican National Committee Chair Ronna McDaniel last month urged Republicans running in the 2024 presidential election to tackle the issue of access to abortion “frontally,” noting that many GOP candidates failed to do so in the 2022 by-elections which produced mediocre results for the party.
“Put them on the defensive and articulate where you stand, and that will be the critical message we need to get out before 2024,” she said.
Access to abortion emerged as a major issue in November’s elections after the Supreme Court in June overturned Roe v. Wade, a landmark decision that guaranteed the constitutional right to abortion.
Republican presidential candidates, who must consider a base that favors an abortion ban and a majority of the nation that favors keeping it legal, have struggled to find consensus on the issue.
