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Republican presidential contender Nikki Haley on Tuesday said if elected president in 2024 she will work to forge a “national consensus” on the thorny issue of abortion in the hopes of saving more lives and supporting more women.
Ms. Haley said pro-life Republicans and activists must come to grips with the reality they do not have the numbers in Washington they would need to pass strict limits on abortions.
“We have to face this reality: the pro-life laws that have passed in strongly Republican states will not be approved at the federal level,” Ms. Haley said at the headquarters of the pro-life Susan B. Anthony List in Virginia. “That is just a fact.”
But there is more that pro-life lawmakers in Washington can and should do, she said, to save “as many lives as possible.”
A former ambassador to the United Nations and governor of South Carolina, Ms. Haley said consensus is within reach on other abortion-related fronts, including around the idea that babies born during botched abortions should be saved and that moms should never be pressured into having abortions.
Ms. Haley said moms should instead get support to carry their babies to term. She said the adoption system should be strengthened, and said pro-life doctors and nurses should not be forced to perform abortions. She said late-term abortions should be outlawed.
“We should be able to agree that contraception should be more available, not less, and we can all agree that women that get abortions should not get jailed,” she said. “A few have even called for the death penalty — that is the least pro-life position I can possibly imagine.”
She blamed the news media for making the debate more volatile and called on pro-life advocates to not buy into the outrage.
