Nikki Haley on Abortion: Find Consensus, 'Stop the Judgment'

Former U.N. Ambassador and 2024 Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley slated a national abortion limit as highly unlikely and championed for consensus on the issue during the third GOP debate on Wednesday night.

When asked by NBC News moderators about what she sees as a “path forward” on abortion if elected president, Haley said Republicans must “be honest with the American people” about the likelihood of a federal limit being passed and called abortion a “personal issue for every woman and every man.”

“When you look post-Roe, a wrong was made right. They took it out of the hands of unelected justices and they put it in the hands of the people. And now we are seeing states vote,” Haley said. “And what I’ll tell you is, as much as I am pro-life, I don’t judge anyone for being pro-choice, and I don’t want them to judge me for being pro-life.”

“So when we are looking at this, there are some states that are going more on the pro-life side — I welcome that. There are some states that are going more on the pro-choice side — I wish that wasn’t the case, but the people decided,” she continued. “But when it comes to the federal law, which is what’s being debated here, be honest. It’s going to take 60 Senate votes, the majority of the House and a president to sign it. We haven’t had 60 Senate votes in over 100 years. We might have 45 pro-life senators.”

Haley concluded that “no Republican president can ban abortions, any more than a Democrat president can ban these state laws.”

“So let’s find consensus. Let’s agree on how we can ban late-term abortion. Let’s make sure we encourage adoptions and good-quality adoptions. Let’s make sure we make contraception accessible,” she said. “Let’s make sure that none of these state laws put a woman in jail or give her the death penalty for getting an abortion. Let’s focus on how to save as many babies as we can and support as many moms as we can.”

“And stop the judgment. We don’t need to divide America over this issue anymore,” she added.

Haley has been consistent during her campaign about calling for “consensus” on abortion, as well as calling for the end of judgment and “demonizing” of the issue.