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March 14, 2017 (LifeSiteNews) – During an interview with FOX News' Tucker Carlson, the executive vice president of Planned Parenthood repeatedly refused to answer whether abortion ends a life. 

Carlson pressed Dawn Laguens about her thoughts on abortion extinguishing a fetal heartbeat and whether a fetus whose sex is different from his mother's is part of the mother's body. She didn't answer Carlson's questions directly, instead repeating unrelated pro-abortion talking points.

“If you can hear the fetal heartbeat, and then it’s extinguished, what do you think of that? Is that a big deal or not to you? And if not, why not?” asked Carlson.

“Well, I take seriously all of the healthcare work that we provide at Planned Parenthood,” Laguens replied. “I believe in safe, legal abortion. I believe it’s up to each woman and individual.”

 

Carlson asked Laguens, “What is a fetus? Is it a separate entity?”

She responded, “I would say that it’s up to each woman to decide whether – you and I can differ on this all day, Tucker, and that’s fine.”

“You’re refusing to say what you think,” he pressed her. “Is it a separate being or is it a piece of flesh that’s part of the woman?”

“What I’m going to say is that 70 percent of Americans, uh, believe that Roe v. Wade should be the law of the land,” she answered. 

Carlson also asked Laguens if she ever wonders about abortions on babies with heartbeats – the vast majority of abortions, given that fetal heartbeats start as early as 21 days after fertilization. 

“People say the life is being taken,” said Carlson. “Do you think that?”

She replied, “I personally favor safe, legal abortion in this country decided on by each individual woman and her doctor to decide for themselves. I personally do not believe that that is a viable fetus at that point.”

“I’m not saying it’s viable; at five and a half weeks it’s not,” said Carlson. “But you can hear the heartbeat. Is that a human being or not?”

A transcript of their exchange is below.

TUCKER CARLSON: Look, I think health screenings are important. I think Planned Parenthood probably does some good work. But the reason it’s such a controversial place is ’cause it’s the country’s biggest abortion provider. You’re one of the people who run it. So I just wanna know what you think. If you can hear the fetal heartbeat, and then it’s extinguished, what do you think of that? Is that a big deal or not to you? And if not, why not?

DAWN LAGUENS: Well, I take seriously all of the healthcare work that we provide at Planned Parenthood. I believe in safe, legal abortion. I believe it’s up to each woman and individual.

TUCKER CARLSON: I know –

DAWN LAGUENS: And so I’m not going to make a judgment.

TUCKER CARLSON: Why can’t you give me a straight answer? This is at the core of what you do. You’re the biggest abortion provider in the United States. It’s not like you haven’t thought of this. What do you think of that?

DAWN LAGUENS: We’ve – I would say that it’s a fetus. And so –

TUCKER CARLSON: But what is a fetus? Is it a separate entity?

DAWN LAGUENS: I would say that it’s up to each woman to decide whether – you and I can differ on this all day, Tucker, and that’s fine.

TUCKER CARLSON: We’re not even differing ’cause you’re not telling me what you think! We’re not differing at all.

DAWN LAGUENS: No, I said that I –

TUCKER CARLSON: You’re refusing to say what you think. Is it a separate being or is it a piece of flesh that’s part of the woman?

DAWN LAGUENS: What I’m going to say is that 70 percent of Americans, uh, believe that Roe v. Wade should be the law of the land.

TUCKER CARLSON: OK.

DAWN LAGUENS: They believe that women should each individually be able to have their choices about what they wanna do in their pregnancy. And they definitely believe that women are at risk for losing care under the plan that Donald Trump and –

TUCKER CARLSON: But you know, one of the reasons – OK, I get your talking points. I’ve let you repeat them a lot – now hold on. With respect, I’ve let you repeat your talking points, which I’ve heard a thousand times, many times. But I wanna take it just a level deeper ’cause I think it’s worth it. It’s a big deal to a lot of people. And people say, ‘Look, this is killing a life. A heart is beating.’ You can hear it at 5 1/2 weeks and the majority of our abortions take place after 5 1/2 weeks. So I wanna know if that bothers you at all. Does it at all? Do you ever stop and think, wow, what is happening here? Is a life being taken? People say the life is being taken. Do you think that?

DAWN LAGUENS: I personally favor safe, legal abortion in this country decided on by each individual woman and her doctor to decide for themselves. I personally do not believe that that is a viable fetus at that point.

TUCKER CARLSON: I’m not saying viable. Is it –

DAWN LAGUENS: And there are rules – well there are rules, we follow, Roe v. Wade laid out –

TUCKER CARLSON: Why are you giving me robotic responses? I’m asking you a human question and I hope you’ll favor me with a human answer. I’m not saying it’s viable; at 5 1/2 it’s not. But you can hear the heartbeat. Is that a human being or not? Is it separate from the mother or not? – Different blood type, often a different sex – different DNA – it doesn’t seem like a tumor or something that is connected to the woman wholly? It’s distinct. What does that mean? I would think you would’ve thought about it considering you provide more of them than anyone.

DAWN LAGUENS: I have thought about it very much for myself, but I am not gonna project onto other women what I believe. What I believe is that women have the right and the choice and we’re gonna leave it up to them. And if – at Planned Parenthood … high quality healthcare –

TUCKER CARLSON: You’re not helping them make that choice with your stilted answer. At all.

DAWN LAGUENS: We do. No, we do help them make a choice.

TUCKER CARLSON: If you think it’s a profound choice –

DAWN ​LAGUENS: I don’t help them personally make the choice. They get to make it. Whether it’s with their minister or their doctor or their partner or husband or –

TUCKER CARLSON: With respect, I know you’re smart, but you’re giving me a series of rehearsed and very childish answers. And it’s disappointing – I would think that you would have grappled with this a little bit.