The five Republican presidential candidates who participated in Wednesday night’s third GOP primary debate weighed in on where they stood on the issue of abortion after elections earlier this week in some states potentially showed mix results on the issue.
The candidates were asked during the second half of the debate in Miami about what they see the path forward being on the issue of abortion.
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis was the first to get asked the question, and he responded initially by telling a story.
“I’m reminded of a story about a young mother who was struggling in Jamaica about 40 years ago, 45 years ago,” he said. “She was counseled to not have a baby because she was poor, baby wouldn’t have opportunity, and she came close to having an abortion, but she decided to have the baby, born poor in Jamaica. And the reason I know that story is because that baby girl ended up immigrating to the state of Florida, becoming a lawyer and a judge, and I appointed her to the Florida Supreme Court in August of 2022.”
He said that it was important to protect life and that the country was “better off when we can promote a culture of life.”
“Texas is not going to do it the same as New Hampshire. Iowa’s not necessarily going to do it the same as Virginia. So you got to work from the bottom up. You got to do a better job on these referenda. I think of all the stuff that’s happened to the pro-life cause, they have been caught flatfooted on these referenda and they have been losing the referenda,” he added. “A lot of the people who are voting for the referenda are Republicans who would vote for a Republican candidate. So you got to understand how to do that. But let’s just be clear, the Democrats have taken a position, they will not identify the point at which there should be any protection all the way up until birth. That is wrong and we cannot stand for that.”
Former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley, who was the next to answer the question, said that this was “a personal issue for every woman and every man” and that she was “unapologetically pro-life.”
“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’re seeing states vote,” she said. “And what I’ll tell you is as much as I’m 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’re looking at this, there are some states that are going more on the pro-life side. I welcome that. There’s some states that are going more on the pro-choice side. I wish that wasn’t the case, but the people decided.”
CLICK HERE TO GET THE DAILY WIRE APP
She said that when it comes to federal law, there was going to be no way to get 60 Senators on board with signing any kind of abortion ban, so it was pointless to talk about.
She said that it was important to “find consensus” and that there was no “need to divide America over this issue anymore.”
Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC) said that he was “a hundred percent pro-life” and that he had a strong record on the issue and that he would be willing to sign a 15-week abortion ban if elected president.
“I would not allow states like California, Illinois, or New York to have abortion up until the day of birth,” he said. “We need a 15-week federal limit. Three out of four Americans agree with a 15-week limit, 47 out of 50 countries in Europe agree with a 15-week limit.”
He also talked about wanting to fund crisis pregnancy centers and the importance of supporting adoption.
Vivek Ramaswamy took a shot at Haley over her response, saying that he wanted to give credit to Scott for stating where he stands on the issue and not giving an answer based on “political calculus.”
“It was my home state of Ohio, I’m upset about this, yesterday that passed a constitutional amendment that now effectively codifies a right to abortion all the way up to the time of birth without parental consent. Why? It’s back to that Republican culture of losing,” he said. “The Republicans did not have an alternative amendment or vision on the table. I know Ohio. I was born, raised, and I live there. It’s representative of the country. If, in the state of Ohio, we talked about access to contraception, adoption, and also here’s the missing ingredient in this movement, sexual responsibility for men. We live in an era of reliable genetic paternity tests that are a hundred percent reliable. So we can say men deserve more responsibility. So we can tell women, ‘We’re all in this together.’ It’s not men’s rights versus women’s rights, it’s about human rights.”
Former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie said that the issue of abortion should be decided at a state-level and not by the federal government.
“The bigger issue is, and Tim began to touch on this, we’re not pro-life for the whole life,” he said. “To be pro-life for the whole life means that the life of a 16-year-old drug addict on the floor of the county lockup is precious and we should get treatment for her to restore her life. The 52-year-old who’s drug addicted should make sure that any of his children who he’s passed that addiction on to are treated well, too. Pro-life is not just in the womb, Kirsten, it’s for the whole life.”
WATCH: