Biden Nominee Refuses to Name a Single Abortion Restriction That He Supports
Xavier Becerra, President Joe Biden’s nominee to head the Department of Health and Human Services, refused to name a single abortion restriction he would support during his testimony before Senators on Wednesday.
Republican Sen. Steve Daines of Montana asked the California attorney general if he could name one abortion restriction he might support.
“Is there any line you would draw?” Daines asked.
“Is there just one, just one restriction as it relates to abortion that you might support?”
Becerra replied that he has “tried to make sure” that he is abiding by the law.
“Whether it’s a particular restriction or whether it’s the whole idea of abortion, whether we agree or not, we have to come to some conclusion,” he said.
“And that’s where the law gives us a place to go.”
Today, I asked @HHSGov nominee Xavier Becerra if he supported any kind of restriction on abortion, including restrictions on the lethal discrimination of babies with Down syndrome or partial-birth abortion.
He refused to answer. pic.twitter.com/vwgZIqe37t
— Steve Daines (@SteveDaines) February 24, 2021
Becerra acknowledged multiple times that there are many different views on the issue of abortion, but refused to answer the question.
“I know how hard many women struggle just to save the life of their baby,” he said, pointing to stories he has heard from his wife, who is an obstetrics and gynecology specialist.
Daines explained that “part of it’s the battle for those who don’t have a voice, which are the little babies” and pointed out that Becerra still hadn’t answered the question.
Becerra continued to dance around the question as Daines threw out a couple of restriction options the nominee might comment on, like a ban on the lethal discrimination of babies who are diagnosed with Down syndrome or a ban on sex-selective abortion.
“My job will be to make sure that I am following the law,” Becerra responded.
Sen. Mitt Romney had questioned Becerra about late-term abortions on Tuesday and the California attorney general did not back away from his 2003 vote against a partial-birth abortion ban when he was in Congress.
The partial-birth abortion ban passed the House in 2003 in a 281-142 vote, with 63 Democrats voting for it.
Biden himself voted for the ban as part of a 64-34 approval in the Senate that included over a dozen Democrats. Then-President George W. Bush signed it into law.
The only justification Becerra offered Romney for his vote against the ban was to say people have different views concerning the procedure, which ends pregnancies in the third trimester when unborn babies are generally viable outside the womb.
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