GREENLAND, New Hampshire (LifeSiteNews) — Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley on Thursday reiterated her call to “humanize” the abortion issue rather than “demonizing” it as other Republicans have, arguing that it’s time to find “consensus” on base-level guidelines.
Speaking to voters at the Rotary Club luncheon at the Portsmouth Country Club in presidential battleground state New Hampshire, Haley, who is polling around seven percent, said a federal law banning abortion is impossible and suggested pro-lifers and pro-abortion activists agree to ban late-term abortion and expand access to contraception.
“Why don’t we just find consensus?” Haley asked, repeating a familiar talking point from her campaign. “Can’t we agree that we don’t want late-term abortions? Can’t we agree that we should encourage adoptions and better quality adoptions? Can’t we agree that doctors and nurses who don’t believe in abortion shouldn’t have to perform them?”
“Can’t we agree that contraception should be accessible?” she said. “And can’t we agree that no state law should say that any woman who’s had an abortion can go to jail or get the death penalty? Let’s just start there.”
“We have to humanize this issue,” the former U.N. ambassador said, adding that she is “not going to be part of demonizing this issue” since “it’s too personal to everyone.”
“But it is time that we start treating it like the sensitive topic that it is,” she continued, referencing a former roommate who had been raped in college. “Everybody’s got a story. And every person’s story needs to be respected.”
Pro-lifers point out that preborn babies are not at fault for the conditions of their conception and that ending the life of a baby conceived through rape can trigger additional trauma for already traumatized rape victims.
Haley, who has criticized Republican U.S. Sen. Tommy Tuberville’s moves to put military promotions on hold to try to force the Biden administration to rescind its abortion travel fund for military members, said she’s personally “unapologetically pro-life, not because the Republican Party tells me to be but because my husband is adopted and I had trouble having both of my children.”
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However, she said abortion “is personal for every woman and every man. So I don’t judge anyone for being pro-choice any more than I want you to judge me for being pro-life.”
Haley pointed out that the notion of a federal law restricting abortion has become a subject of debate following the reversal of Roe v. Wade, which eliminated the nationwide “right to abortion” last summer.
While Haley said she thinks there’s “a place for a federal law,” she said a sweeping abortion ban is impossible given the make-up of the government.
“We haven’t had 60 Republican senators in over a 100 years. We might have 45 pro-life senators,” she said. “So, no Republican president can ban abortion any more than a Democrat president can ban these state laws.”
The presidential contender said she wants to “save as many babies as we can and support as many moms as we can.”
“And that’s the conversation I choose to have when it comes to pro-life and abortion,” she said.
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Haley’s most recent comments calling for a softening of rhetoric and expectations surrounding abortion come after former U.S. President Donald Trump rattled pro-lifers by denouncing laws banning abortions after six weeks of pregnancy and giving himself full credit for the overturning of Roe v. Wade.
Similar to Haley’s calls for “consensus,” Trump has suggested that he could “come up with a number” that would “make people happy” on both sides of the issue and put an end to the national debate.