Democratic presidential hopeful Pete Buttigieg said on Thursday’s appearance on ABC’s “The View,” that “it should be up to the woman” in the case of late-term abortions.
Co-host Meghan McCain, “I actually think you understand the middle of the country, probably because of where you’re from. I saw an interview you did on a radio show talking about abortion, and I think this got a lot of play in conservative circles where you were talking about — this is your quote — ‘there’s a lot of parts of the Bible that talk about how life begins with breath, so that is something we can interpret that differently,’ Obviously in my circles, it was passed around because I think the interpretation from pro-life people like me was that you meant a baby actually being born and there’s a lot of controversy with Governor Northam and what it means and what time a woman should be able to have an abortion. I wanted you to clarify because I found that statement to be pretty radical.”
Buttigieg said, “I’m just pointing to the fact that different people will interpret their own moral lights and, for that matter, interpret scripture differently. But we live in a country where it is extremely important that no one person have to be subjected to some other person’s interpretation of their own religion.”
When McCain then brought up partial-birth abortion, Buttigieg stated, “My point is it shouldn’t be up to a government official to draw the line. It should be up to the woman.”
McCain said, “So if a woman wanted to invoke infanticide after a baby was born, you’d be comfortable with that?”
Buttigieg said, “Does anybody seriously think that’s what these cases are about?”
Buttigieg continued, “Think about the situation. If this is a late-term situation, then by definition, it’s one where a woman was expecting to carry the pregnancy to term. Then she gets the most, perhaps, devastating news of her life. We’re talking about families that may have picked out a name, maybe assembling a crib, and they learn something, excruciating, and are faced with this terrible choice. And I don’t know what to tell them, morally, about what they should do. I just know that I trust, and her decision, medically or morally, isn’t going to be any better because the government is commanding her to do it.”
McCain said, “To put a peg on this, I respect what you’re saying because you didn’t back down from it. This is going to hurt you in the middle of the country with the Republicans you’re trying to win over. Quite frankly, that answer was just as radical as I thought it was, sorry.”
Follow Pam Key on Twitter @pamkeyNEN
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