Marsha Blackburn says Hillary Clinton’s ‘unborn person’ comment ‘shocks the conscience’

Tennessee Rep. Marsha Blackburn on Monday said Hillary Clinton’s comment that an “unborn person” does not have constitutional rights reveals the Democratic primary front-runner’s moral depravity.

“Secretary Clinton’s comment that an ‘unborn person doesn’t have rights was strikingly callous,” Ms. Blackburn said in a statement. “My message to Mrs. Clinton is – it’s an unborn child.”

Ms. Blackburn, who chairs the Select Investigative Panel on Infant Lives, said Mrs. Clinton displayed a chilling “analytical coldness” when discussing an emotionally charged topic.

“The analytical coldness with which she dismissed rights of unborn children reveals a type of hardened core that shocks the conscience,” Ms. Blackburn said.

“Further, abortion restrictions are in place precisely because an unborn child does have constitutional rights,” she added. “Secretary Clinton, a trained attorney, should know the law.”

The congresswoman said the comments reveal what the former secretary of state’s agenda will be should she win the presidency.

“Her comment reveals a mindset that lacks any compassion for unborn children and may signal an intention to use executive action to block even minimal protections of life at its most vulnerable stage,” she said. 

Mrs. Clinton was criticized by both the pro-life and pro-choice sides of the abortion debate for referring to an “unborn person” and “child” when discussing abortion.

While pro-lifers saw the comments as cruel, it is anathema in the pro-choice community to use humanizing terms to describe what is being aborted.

Guidelines issued by the International Planned Parenthood Federation, for instance, discourage the use of terms such as “baby,” “dead fetus,” “unborn baby” and “unborn child” when discussing abortion, instead recommending “embryo,” “fetus” and “the pregnancy.”