Fox News’ Bret Baier is the first media personality in the 2016 Democratic election cycle to question the Democratic presidential candidates in either a town hall or debate setting on their support for controversial abortion procedures.
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There have been seven Democratic debates, including one this past Sunday, and not a single moderator has asked Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton or Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., to explain their opposition to legislation banning partial-birth abortion and abortive procedures performed after 20 weeks of pregnancy, even though a majority of voters support restrictions in both cases.
Prior to this week, there have also been multiple Democratic town hall events. But, again, neither Clinton nor Sanders were asked at those events about their respective positions on abortion.
Then, on Monday, Baier broke the Democratic streak and queried both of the candidates on the issue.
“Can you name a single circumstance at any point in a pregnancy in which you would be okay with abortion being illegal?” Baier asked Sanders.
“It’s not a question of me being okay,” the senator responded. “I know not everybody here will agree with me. I happen to believe that it is wrong for the government to be telling a woman what to do with her own body.”
“There are a whole lot of people out there who tell me the government is terrible, government is awful, get government off our backs. My Republican friends want to cut Social Security, Medicaid, Medicare — Medicaid, education. But somehow on this issue, they want to tell every woman in America what she should do with her body,” he added.
Baier pressed Sanders on his support for late-term abortion.
“I am very strongly pro-choice. That is a decision to be made by the woman, her physician and her family. That’s my view,” the senator answered.
Later, the Fox anchor hit Clinton the same line of questioning.
“Do you think a child should have any legal rights or protections before it’s born?” the Fox anchor asked. “Or do you think there should not be any restrictions on any abortions at any stage in a pregnancy?”
“I think we have to continue to stand up for a woman’s right to make these decisions, and to defend Planned Parenthood, which does an enormous amount of good work across our country,” the former secretary of state said.
Baier kept at it, “Just to be clear, there’s no — without any exceptions?”
“No,” she responded. “I have been on record in favor of a late pregnancy regulation that would have exceptions for the life and health of the mother. I object to the recent effort in Congress to pass a law saying after 20 weeks, you know, no such exceptions, because although these are rare, Bret, they sometimes arise in the most complex, difficult medical situation.”
“Fetal malformities and … ” he started.
“And threats to the woman’s health,” Clinton said. “And so I think it is — under Roe v. Wade, it is appropriate to say, in these circumstances, so long as there’s an exception for the life and health of the mother.”
For all the Democratic debates held so far in this election cycle, Fox’s abortion questions stood out, much to the surprise of at least a few left-leaning media personalities:
Is it really true Sanders and Clinton haven’t faced any questions on abortion yet in any debate? If so, that’s nuts.
— Chris Hayes (@chrislhayes) March 7, 2016
In contrast to televised Democratic primary events, abortion has come up in at least three GOP debates since August, 2015.
The Vermont senator’s team even took note of the fact that it was Fox, and not MSNBC or CNN, that raised the issue:
It took @FoxNews to ask the first question about abortion at a Democratic town hall or debate. #DemTownHall
— Bernie Sanders (@BernieSanders) March 7, 2016
Baier won kudos from some in media for being the first in the press to broach the subject.
“I thought it was even almost — it was semi-historic the way you actually asked a question about abortion. I think there have been, what, seven Democratic debates and not one about abortion,” conservative commentator Charles Krauthammer said this week on Fox.
“The moderators are always asking Republicans about the difficult issue of exceptions for the pro-life position, which is a serious question. But you never hear the same question asked about the difficult exceptions on the pro-choice side, meaning, is there any time, anywhere, any time in the pregnancy when you would allow a regulation to prevent an abortion?” he added. “Which is never asked, has to be asked, and was asked.”
