Nikki Haley distances herself from federal abortion ban campaign: 2024 hopeful accuses Republican rivals of LYING to voters because Congress would never pass legislation
- Nikki Haley said she supported states’ right to set their own abortion limits
- But she said politicians weren’t fair when they proposed federal bans
- “We haven’t had 60 pro-life senators in 100 years,” she said Sunday morning
Nikki Haley, the former governor of South Carolina and the Republican candidate for 2024, on Sunday distanced herself from demands for a federal abortion ban.
And she fired a shot across the bows of her GOP rivals, saying that anyone campaigning for a ban was not being fair to voters.
“I think we need to tell the American people the truth: To meet a national standard, you need a majority in the House, 60 votes in the Senate and a president,” she told CBS’s “Face the Nation.”
“We haven’t had 60 pro-life senators in 100 years.
“So the idea that a Republican president could ban all abortions is not fair to the American people, any more than a Democratic president could ban these pro-life laws in the United States.”
Former South Carolina governor and 2024 Republican nominee Nikki Haley distanced herself from demands for a federal abortion ban on Sunday morning
Abortion rights advocates wait for North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper to veto SB20 legislation that restricts most abortions to the first trimester of pregnancy, in Raleigh, North Carolina, US, May 13
Republicans are scrambling to carve out a path forward after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v Wade.
Some figures, such as Donald Trump, have admitted that it becomes more difficult to win over female voters when they become strict on abortion.
But others, like Senator Lindsey Graham, are pushing for a 15-week federal abortion ban.
States take different approaches. And on Saturday, North Carolina’s Democratic governor vetoed legislation that would have banned nearly all pregnancies in his state past 12 weeks gestation.
Haley said she supported the right of states to set their own boundaries.
“There are some states that have been pro-life — I welcome that,” she said.
“There are some states that have erred on the side of abortion — I wish that wasn’t the case. We must ensure that people’s voices are heard.’
Haley is well behind Trump and likely candidate Ron DeSantis, who is governor of Florida. The RealClearPolitics moving average of polls gives her just 4.2 percent support.
But as they obsess over the country’s culture wars and compete for the right-wing fringe of the Republican Party, Haley casts himself as a more conventional conservative.
She has taken a tougher stance against Russia in Ukraine.
And she said she didn’t want “unelected judges” ruling on abortion, something she said was “personal.”
“So let’s be honest with the American people and say, let’s find national consensus,” she said.
“Let’s agree on you know, abolishing late abortion. Let’s agree that we need more adoptions.
“Let’s agree that we need accessible contraception. Let’s agree that mom shouldn’t go to jail or… the death penalty for having an abortion.”