Democrat and 2020 presidential hopeful Beto O’Rourke set his political marker in the sand on Monday regarding third-term abortions.
The former Texas congressman told an Ohio audience that women in their 25th week of pregnancy and beyond she not be impeded from ending the child’s life.
His remarks came at an event in Cleveland.
“Are you for or against third-trimester abortions or are you going to protect the lives of third-trimester babies?” a woman asked in footage posted online by National Review’s Alexandra DeSanctis. “If there was an emergency, the doctors would just perform a C-section and you don’t have to kill the baby.”
In short, the audience member was echoing science backed by The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists.
The sixth edition of “Your Pregnancy and Childbirth: Month to Month” states, for example:
- “Your baby’s skin has taken color because of the melanin that is now being produced. The lungs are starting to produce surfactant, a substance that’s necessary for the baby’s lungs to function after he or she is born.”
- “The baby kicks and stretches and can make grasping motions.”
- “A smile, especially during rapid eye movement (REM) sleep, may be seen in a baby at this age.”
- “At the sound of familiar voices, your baby’s heart rate may decrease, which may mean that your baby is calmed by these sounds.”
- “The eyes can open and close and sense changes in light.”
Mr. O’Rourke responded: “The question is about abortion and reproductive rights and my answer to you is that should be a decision that the woman makes. I trust her.”
The audience applauded at his remarks.
“Notice how Beto takes an articulate question about abortion *after fetal viability* and the medical details of these procedures and restates it to the crowd as a question about “abortion and reproductive rights,” Ms. DeSanctis tweeted Monday.
“That’s what they have to do to defend third-trimester abortion,” she wrote.
Here’s Beto O’Rourke at a campaign event in Cleveland responding to a question about third-trimester abortions: “That should be a decision that the woman makes. I trust her.” pic.twitter.com/nBrlazlMob
— Alexandra DeSanctis (@xan_desanctis) March 18, 2019
• Douglas Ernst can be reached at dernst@washingtontimes.com.
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