Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., says he would support any legislation that reduces abortions, even if it contains exceptions that he thinks modern medicine has eliminated the need for. He also supports the newest methods of contraception and wants them to be widely available.
“I’ll support any legislation that reduces the number of abortions; and there are those that have” exceptions, he said Sunday on NBC’s “Meet the Press.” “What I’ve never done is said I require that it must have or not have exceptions.”
He said that pregnancies resulting from rape, although “horrifying,” compose “less than one percent of the cases in the world.”
And with the morning after pill available over the counter and “medical treatment that’s now available immediately after the assault, that should be widely available to victims, we can bring that number down to zero,” said Rubio, whose performance in Thursday night’s GOP presidential debate has won him plaudits.
Nonetheless, he thinks that regardless of how conception is achieved, “all human life is worthy of the protections of our laws.” But he conceded that getting such laws enacted is very hard.
“I recognize that in order to have consensus on laws that limit the number of abortions, a lot of people want to see those exceptions,” he said, explaining that is why he has supported legislation containing standard exceptions for cases of rape and other extraordinary circumstances.
Another common exception that he supports, even though he argues it’s not really necessary, is when the mother’s life is imperiled.
There’s “a debate … today, given modern medicine, whether there is any condition that only abortion could save a mother’s life in a viable pregnancy,” he said.
“There is no doubt that a woman has a right to her own body, has a right to make decisions about her own health and her own future,” Rubio said. “And then, there’s this other right. And that’s the right of a human being to live … so you have to make a decision.”
Rubio said he empathizes with women who find themselves forced to choose.
He said he tells others they should put themselves in the shoes of a 15 year old in that situation. “I tell people all the time: ‘Don’t pretend this is easy.’ This is a difficult question.”
Rubio was unequivocal in his support for contraception.
“I don’t want to ban any contraceptive efforts,” he said. His religious views aside, “I think our laws on those issues are different.”
