Former New Mexico Gov. Gary Johnson is seeking the presidency on the Libertarian Party ticket and some pro-life voters who are unenthused with Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton are suggesting his name as a possibility.
However, Johnson has a long track record of supporting abortion.
When it comes to abortion, Johnson previously told Slate he believes that abortion should be legal “until the viability of the fetus.” Furthermore,
In a Rolling Stone Magazine interview from 2011, Johnson added:
“I support women’s rights to choose up until viability of the fetus. I’ve supported the notion of parental notification. I’ve supported counseling and I’ve supported the notion that public funds not be used for abortions. But I don’t want for a second to pretend that I have a better idea of how a woman should choose when it comes to this situation. Fundamentally this is a choice that a woman should have.”
Now, in a new interview with TownHall, Johnson confirmed his pro-abortion views. He appeared to not understand how the Supreme Court needed to protect Hobby Lobby, the pro-life business that did not want to be forced by Obamacare to pay for abortion-causing drugs for its employees in their health care plans.
On abortion, Johnson expressed support for the Hyde Amendment, which bars taxpayer funds being used to pay for abortions, and explained why he’s open to backing mainstream restrictions on the practice, such as the proposed 20-week (6th month) ban and parental notification laws. He said abortion laws should generally be left up to the states, which can easily be defended as a consistent pro-choice but anti-Roe v. Wade position.
SIGN THE PLEDGE: I Pledge to Vote for a Pro-Life Candidate for President
On recent Supreme Court decisions, the Libertarian standard-bearer appeared to be unfamiliar with the specifics of the Hobby Lobby case, eventually concluding that the Court’s 5-4 majority got it wrong; religious small businesses shouldn’t be able to “discriminate” against employees by declining to pay for certain forms of birth control and abortifacients, he said. Observers will need to decide for themselves if or how support for this coercive and unconstitutional Obamacare mandate is consistent with libertarian principles.
Johnson went on to criticize the Obama administration for its protracted legal battle with the Little Sisters of the Poor. He said he believes the White House overstepped by attempting to force Catholic nuns — clearly a religious organization, he noted — to facilitate the purchase of birth control.
Watch the full remarks:
