While some Republicans say Marco Rubio is too pro-life to become the Republican nominee, Rubio is keeping pro-life issues front and center but he’s taking it to likely Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton. In new remarks, Rubio says Clinton is the real extremist on the issue of abortion, not him.
Rubio says Hillary Clinton would allow abortions until a baby’s due date, as she has opposed bills to ban late-term abortions and appears to not support any limits on abortion whatsoever.
“Hillary Clinton is an extremist on this issue,” the Florida Republican said Thursday in New Hampshire. “She believes there should be no such thing as an illegal abortion — even on the due date.”
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Rubio had been asked about his position on abortion after facing fire on the issue from his own party — accusing him of being too extreme on the topic.
He said he would not “apologize” for being anti-abortion, though he recognizes the complexity of the issue. And then he pivoted straight to Democrats and Clinton.
“And she believes that partial birth abortion should be legal, which is a gruesome procedure that the vast majority of Americans find to be unconscionable,” Rubio said.
Republican presidential candidate Chris Christie is pro-life and has a strong record as New Jersey’s governor of vetoing taxpayer funding for the Planned Parenthood abortion business multiple times. But pro-life voters probably won’t like what he has to say about fellow presidential hopeful Marco Rubio. Christie thinks the Florida senator is just too pro-life on abortion for the voters of New Hampshire.
“I will tell you one thing Marco Rubio has done, he has made it very clear that on the issue of pro-life, Marco Rubio is not for an exception for … rape, incest or life of the mother,” Christie said on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe.”
“Now, you know, I think that’s the kind of position that New Hampshire voters would be really concerned about,” he added.
“I’m pro-life, but I believe that rape, incest and life of the mother – as Ronald Reagan did – should be exceptions to that rule.
Last year, during a Republican debate, Rubio said he supports protecting unborn babies conceived in rape and incest from abortion.
During the debate, Rubio said future generations of Americans will look back on the United States and regard us someday as barbarians for having legalized abortion.
“I believe that every single human being is entitled to the protection of our laws, whether they can vote or not. Whether they can speak or not. Whether they can hire a lawyer or not. Whether they have a birth certificate or not. And I think future generations will look back at this history of our country and call us barbarians for murdering millions of babies who we never gave them a chance to live,” Rubio said during the debate.
“What I have advocated is that we pass law in this country that says all human life at every stage of its development is worthy of protection,” the GOP presidential candidate continued. “In fact, I think that law already exists. It is called the Constitution of the United States.”
Rubio added that he does not specifically support rape or incest exceptions, saying that “[while] I think both of those instances are horrifying…I personally believe you do not correct one tragedy with a second tragedy.”
“The value of life is timeless,” he responded. “Science has decided that it’s human life. ….Abolustely it has? What else can it be? It can’t turn into an animal. It can’t turn into a donkey.”
Later, in an interview, Rubio defended his pro-life views.
“A rape is an act of violence,” he said, “it’s a horrifying thing that happens, and fortunately the number of abortions in this country that happen due to rape are very small. Less than 1% of the cases but they happen and they’re horrifying and a tragedy and I recognize that.
He also said: “I don’t say it’s easy. But when asked to make a decision between two very hard circumstances, I personally reached the decision, if I’m going to err, I’m going to err on the side of life.”
