Haley campaign hits back at Democratic National Committee on abortion criticism
Julia Johnson
Video Embed
EXCLUSIVE — Presidential candidate Nikki Haley’s campaign hit back at the Democratic National Committee on Wednesday after her stance on abortion and her record as governor were criticized.
On a press call, DNC Chairman Jaime Harrison addressed Haley’s record on abortion. “Nikki Haley, she signed an abortion ban as governor of South Carolina that had no exceptions for rape or incest and threatened doctors with jail time,” he told reporters. “And as a candidate, she said that she would support a national abortion ban.”
BIDEN’S CLIMATE AGENDA DREAMS COLLIDE WITH MILITARY REALITIES
Haley spokesman Ken Farnaso responded to Harrison in an exclusive statement to the Washington Examiner, saying “No one fails upwards better than Jaime Harrison.”
According to the statement, “Gov. Haley believes the best way to save as many babies as possible is to focus on finding consensus at the federal level to end late-term abortion, make adoption easier, support pregnant mothers, and protect religious liberty.”
“The media should be asking how many weeks Joe Biden and Kamala Harris would allow abortion to happen? 37? 38? 39 weeks?” Farnaso asks.
In 2016, then-governor Haley of South Carolina signed the Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act, prohibiting abortion after 20 weeks of pregnancy. The bill included exceptions if the mother’s life was in danger as well as if a doctor determined that a child would not survive outside of the womb.
If medical providers violated the law, they faced up to $10,000 in fines and three years in prison per infraction.
Since beginning her 2024 presidential campaign, Haley has vowed to sign a federal abortion ban, but hasn’t specified at what week. However, she has also pointed out the difficulty and relative unlikelihood of a federal ban on abortion.
“It would take a majority of the House, 60 senators, and a president to sign it,” she said last month at St. Anselm College in Manchester, New Hampshire.
“We haven’t had 60 Republican senators in 100 years,” she added.
Earlier this year in a speech at the Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America headquarters in Arlington, Virginia, Haley admitted, “I do believe there is a federal role on abortion.
“Whether we can save more lives nationally depends entirely on doing what no one has done to date — finding consensus. That’s what I will strive to do,” she continued.
Haley’s public statements on the issue are somewhat comparable to those of former President Donald Trump, who has said he plans on negotiating on the issue and has not pledged to sign a federal abortion ban.
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
Meanwhile, in April, Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) signed a six-week abortion ban in the Sunshine State. Last month, he said, “Dobbs returned the issue to the elected representatives of the people, and so I think that there’s a role for both the federal [government] and states” on abortion. He didn’t expand on whether that would take the form of a federal ban under his administration, however.
Both Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC) and former Vice President Mike Pence have signaled strong support for federal measures on abortion.