Nikki Haley attacks the ‘guys’ who have ‘demonized’ abortion for too long: Hopeful 2024 explains that her college roommate’s rape means she ‘doesn’t condemn anyone who is pro-choice’
- Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley called out ‘the boys’ for ‘demonizing’ the issue of abortion despite her pro-life stance
- Haley recalled the horror of her college roommate being raped and having to wait to find out if she was pregnant
- ‘Everyone has a story. And everyone’s story should be respected,” Haley told an audience in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, on Thursday.
Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley called out “the boys” for “demonizing” the issue of abortion as she recounted how her college roommate was raped and had to wait to find out if she was pregnant.
Haley was asked about her position on abortion during a Rotary Club luncheon at Portsmouth Country Club on Thursday as she spent the day on the campaign trail in New Hampshire.
Since the first Republican debate last month, Haley has seen a rise in the polls, climb to second placestarting Thursday, in the Granite State.
“We need to humanize this issue. I’m not going to participate in demonizing this issue, it’s too personal for everyone. And the boys have done that for too long. No offense,” Haley said. “But it’s time we start treating it like the sensitive subject that it is.”
“I had a roommate who was raped in college. “I wouldn’t wish for anything – I wouldn’t wish that on anyone to see what she went through when she wondered if she was pregnant,” the former UN ambassador continued. ‘Everyone has a story.’
Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley called out ‘the boys’ for ‘demonizing’ the issue of abortion as she recounted how her college roommate was raped and had to wait to find out if she was pregnant
Nikki Haley photographed with her daughter (left) at her alma mater Clemson. Haley spoke on the campaign trail Thursday about how her college roommate was raped, saying she “wouldn’t wish for anyone to see what she went through wondering if she was pregnant.”
“And everyone’s story should be respected,” she said.
However, Haley said her personal story has made her pro-life.
“I am unapologetically pro-life, not because the Republican Party says so, but because my husband was adopted and I struggled to have both of my children,” she said. “So I’m surrounded by blessings.”
“That said, this issue is personal to every woman and every man. So I don’t judge anyone for being pro-choice, any more than I want you to judge me for being pro-life,” Haley added.
Haley said she supported federal legislation to ban abortion after a certain period of time, but also explained that would never happen.
“So the question you see under discussion right now is, ‘Is there room for a federal law?’ And I think it is,” she told the crowd. “But in order to have a federal law, they have to tell you the truth and I don’t think anyone has told the American people the truth.”
She pointed out that a majority of lawmakers in the House of Representatives, 60 senators and the president would have to sign such a bill.
“We haven’t had 60 Republican senators in over a hundred years,” she said. “We might have 45 pro-life senators.”
“We need to humanize this issue. I’m not going to participate in demonizing this issue, it’s too personal for everyone. And the boys have done that for too long. No offense,” Haley said Thursday when asked about abortion
“So no Republican president can ban abortion any more than a Democratic president can ban these state laws,” she said.
She encouraged “consensus” on the issue because Republicans were hurt in the recent elections for supporting abortion bans following the Supreme Court’s decision to strike down Roe v. Wade.
“Can’t we agree that we don’t want late-term abortions? Can’t we agree that we need to encourage adoptions and better quality adoptions?’ she asked the crowd. “Can’t we agree that doctors and nurses who don’t believe in abortions shouldn’t perform them?”
‘Shouldn’t we agree that contraception should be accessible? And can we not agree that no state law should provide that any woman who has an abortion can go to prison or face the death penalty?” she asked. “Let’s start there.”
As president, Haley has pledged to “save as many babies as we can and support as many mothers as we can.”
“And that’s the conversation I prefer to have when it comes to pro-life and abortion,” she said.