The left leapt to attack Scott Walker after he announced Monday that he would sign a late-term abortion ban with no exceptions for rape or incest.
A ban on abortion after 20 weeks with no such exceptions has already passed Wisconsin’s house.
“I think for most people who are concerned about that, it’s in the initial months when they are most concerned about it,” he told reporters. “In this case, it’s an unborn life, it’s an unborn child, that’s why we feel strongly about it.
“I’m prepared to sign it either way they send it to us.”
The statement drew instant ire from Democrats like Debbie Wasserman Schultz, who told TIME that Walker represents a “rigid, backward ideology.”
MSNBC’s Chris Hayes declared it the first “Todd Akin moment” of 2016—even though limits on late-term abortions are a relatively main-stream view.
In a 2013 WSJ/NBC poll, Americans were divided on the question of banning abortions after 20 weeks—44 percent said they should be banned, and 37 percent said they should not be banned.
Earlier this year, Walker set off a similar media firestorm when several outlets incorrectly reported that he called requiring transvaginal ultrasounds before an abortion “a cool thing.”
Walker slammed the out-of-context quotes as “more than biased; it’s just lazy.”
According to CBS, Wisconsin’s proposed law would allow for jailing, fining up to $10,000, or charging with a felony doctors who performed late-term abortions. Either parent of a child could also sue for damages.
