Meghan McCain and Pete Buttigieg clashed on the issue of late-term abortion after The View host claimed the former mayor would struggle to win over voters in centrist states.
Fresh off his top-tier finish in Iowa, Buttigieg was asked by McCain to justify his support for late-term abortions, which are procedures that take place in the final trimester of a pregnancy. Buttigieg, who identifies as Christian, has argued that it is not the government’s role to tell mothers whether they can have an abortion.
McCain, 35, cited an argument Buttigieg used to defend his support for late-term abortion access while being Christian. In September, Buttigieg said, “There’s a lot of parts of the Bible that talk about how life begins with breath. So even that is something we can interpret differently.”
She asked him, “I wanted you to clarify because I found that statement to be pretty radical.”
Buttigieg, 38, responded, “I’m just pointing to the fact that different people will interpret their own moral lights and, for that matter, interpret Scripture differently. But we live in a country where it is extremely important that no one person has to be subjected to some other person’s interpretation of their own religion.”
McCain cited remarks made by Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam, where he explained, “If a mother is in labor, I can tell you exactly what would happen. The infant would be delivered. The infant would be kept comfortable. The infant would be resuscitated if that’s what the mother and the family desired, and then a discussion would ensue between the physicians and the mother.”
She said that Northam’s description depicted infanticide and asked if Buttigieg supported such a measure. Buttigieg responded, “Does anybody seriously think that’s what these cases are about? Think about the situation: If this is a late-term situation, then by definition, it’s one where a woman was expecting to carry the pregnancy to term.”
Buttigieg went on to explain that he didn’t want a government official drawing the line for a woman who had to make that decision late in the pregnancy.
McCain responded, “I respect what you’re saying because you didn’t back down from it. This is going to hurt you in the middle of the country with the Republicans you’re trying to win over. People like me, this is a hard line, and quite frankly, that answer is just as radical as I thought it was, sorry.”
Buttigieg has been confronted about his abortion views on the campaign trail. He recently told one voter that he didn’t believe there needed to be a change to the Democratic Party platform to welcome anti-abortion supporters.
