Beto O’Rourke believes an unborn child as old as 40 weeks has value. But he also believes that no one should question whether that child should be aborted because it is no one’s business but the mother’s.
Good luck reconciling those two positions.
The flailing 2020 Democratic primary candidate’s bipolar defense of life and extremely late-term abortions came this week as he spoke at a political rally at the College of Charleston in Charleston, South Carolina.
A member of the audience, who referred specifically to when O’Rourke said in March that late-term abortion “should be a decision that the woman makes,” said to the former Texas congressman: “I was born Sept. 8, 1989, and I want to know if you think on Sept. 7, 1989, my life had no value.”
“Of course I don’t think that,” the 2020 candidate responded. “And, of course, I’m glad that you’re here. But you reference my answer in Ohio and it remains the same.”
Then he added: “This is a decision that neither you, nor I, nor the United States government should be making. That’s a decision for the woman to make.”
The audience awarded the 2020 Democratic candidate with enthusiastic applause. Here is footage of the interaction, courtesy of WCIV-TV:
“We want her to have the best possible access to care, to a medical provider, and I’ll tell you the consequence of this attack on women’s right to choose – ” O’Rourke continued.
The audience member interjected to say, “What about my right to be alive?”
“I listened to you, and I heard your question, and I’m answering it,” O’Rourke responded. But he didn’t answer that one.
The former Texas representative recited the normal litany of pro-choice talking points, including warnings about attacks on Roe v. Wade, “trap laws,” “safe, legal access to an abortion,” cervical cancer screenings, and states that have refused to expand their Medicaid programs. He did not address that student’s right to live.
O’Rourke concluded with this line, which also earned him a round of applause: “I don’t question the decisions that a woman makes. I mean, only she knows what she knows and I want to trust her with that.”
To recap: O’Rourke says he “of course” does not believe that a child born on Sept. 8 has no value on Sept. 7. But O’Rourke also says he supports the decision to abort that unborn human on Sept. 7 because we should not “question the decisions that a woman makes.”
O’Rourke’s non-answer is the result of laziness — of reflecting on this issue exactly as long as it takes to memorize mostly irrelevant talking points provided by Planned Parenthood and SKDKnickerbocker.
(h/t Joel Pollack)
