Nikki Haley calls for a national ‘consensus’ on abortion in speech
Mabinty Quarshie
Former United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley aimed to find a national “consensus” on limiting access to abortion in a speech on Tuesday at the Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America headquarters in Arlington, Virginia.
“I said I want to save as many babies and help as many moms as possible. That is my goal, to do that at the federal level. The next president must find national consensus,” Haley said.
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TOP 2024 REPUBLICANS DIVIDED ON WHETHER ABORTION IS A STATE ISSUE AS PRESIDENTIAL RACE HEATS UP
Haley, a former South Carolina governor, is one of several Republicans hoping to wrestle the 2024 presidential nomination from former President Donald Trump. Haley is staunchly anti-abortion, citing her struggles to conceive and her husband being an adoptee as reasons for her stance.
But Haley’s abortion speech was light on policy details and sidestepped addressing how many weeks before a federal ban on abortion was enacted. “These questions miss the point that the goal is about saving as many lives as possible,” Haley said. “You don’t save any lives if you can’t enact your position in the law. And you can’t do that unless you find consensus.”
She did, however, say she didn’t support women being jailed for getting an abortion.
Haley is the only declared woman in the Republican presidential race and was the first Republican to challenge former President Donald Trump when she announced her campaign in February. She faces stiff competition for the Republican presidential nominee in both Trump, her former boss, and potentially Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL). She has consistently trailed behind both men in polling.
Trump nominated the three Supreme Court justices, Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh, and Amy Coney Barrett, who helped overturn Roe v. Wade last June, but he has been relatively quiet on abortion during his 2024 campaign. As has DeSantis, who signed a six-week abortion ban in Florida but since then has barely addressed the legislative win in public.
Yet during a video shown at the Iowa Faith and Freedom Coalition on Saturday, Trump did tout his anti-abortion credentials. In defense of his Supreme Court nominees, Trump declared: “Those justices delivered a landmark victory for protecting innocent life. Nobody thought it was going to happen.”
Last week, Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America criticized Trump for his “unacceptable” anti-abortion actions. “President Trump’s assertion that the Supreme Court returned the issue of abortion solely to the states is a completely inaccurate reading of the Dobbs decision and is a morally indefensible position for a self-proclaimed pro-life presidential candidate to hold,” Marjorie Dannenfelser, the group’s president, said in a statement.
But Dannenfelser appeared receptive to Haley’s abortion stance on Tuesday. “What I admire about her is that she’s decided to lean in as other people are kind of rock[ing] back on their heels and waiting to see what’s happening,” Dannenfelser told the Washington Examiner.
Fellow 2024 presidential hopeful and South Carolinian Sen. Tim Scott has also struggled over abortion recently. Earlier this month, Scott said he supports a 20-week abortion ban after he had dodged questions about whether he supported a nationwide abortion ban.
Haley has previously said she would not advocate a “full-out federal ban” on abortion during a February interview with Today’s Craig Melvin. “We need consensus on this,” Haley told Melvin about a proposal from Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) that would ban abortion after 15 weeks. “I think if we’re looking at 15 weeks, what we need to understand is we are not OK with abortion up until the time of birth.”
The Supreme Court‘s decision to side with the Biden administration in allowing medication abortion to remain available after a federal Texas judge blocked the Food and Drug Administration‘s approval of the drug mifepristone has kept the political battle over abortion in mainstream news.
Haley was clear on Tuesday that she also wouldn’t shy away from her anti-abortion beliefs during her address. “It’s one that too many politicians either demagogue or hide from it. I won’t demagogue or hide from [it]. I’m here to speak about it directly and open,” Haley said.
Not all Republicans are shying away from discussing abortion.
Former Vice President Mike Pence, another 2024 presidential hopeful, praised U.S. District Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk’s ruling on mifepristone. “Life won again today. When it approved chemical abortions on demand, the FDA acted carelessly and with blatant disregard for human life and the wellbeing of American women, and today’s ruling fixed a 20-year wrong,” Pence said in a statement released through his Advancing American Freedom PAC.
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SBA Pro-Life America said it is in conversation with most of the potential 2024 candidates and is interested in what they have to say about their anti-abortion stance.
“We are so far behind the rest of the civilized world when it comes to our abortion laws and what we do for women who are in need, and it’s time to catch up,” Dannenfelser said.