Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., said she views abortion laws as being “against Christian faith” on Thursday.
The 2020 hopeful spoke at the Georgia state house a day after Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey signed the nation’s strictest abortion ban into law. The law punishes doctors with 10 to 99 years in prison if they perform abortions and also prohibits abortion in the instance of rape or incest.
Earlier this month, Georgia banned abortion after six weeks.
“If you are a person of the Christian faith, one of the tenants of our faith is free will. One of the tenants of our democracy is that we have a separation of church and state, and under no circumstances are we supposed to be imposing our faith on other people. And I think this is an example of that effort,” Gillibrand said.
Gillibrand, who is Catholic, said the Hyde Amendment, which bans federal funding for abortion, should be abolished, reproductive healthcare should be guaranteed in every state, and the Supreme Court’s ruling that legalized abortion nationwide should be written into law.
The Supreme Court’s Roe v. Wade decision in 1973 established a constitutional right to abortion.
“Any Democrat who expects to win the presidency must answer definitively where they stand on this issue,” she said.
