Marco Rubio takes hard line on abortion, drawing Hillary Clinton’s attention
While the Donald Trump vs. Megyn Kelly feud dominated the political airwaves after the first Republican presidential primary debate last week, Democrat Hillary Clinton argues it was an answer uttered by Marco Rubio that should have garnered the most attention.
Clinton told reporters in New Hampshire on Monday that Trump, who appeared to blame a Kelly question he didn’t like on her menstrual cycle, “went way overboard — offensive, outrageous, pick your adjective — but what Marco Rubio said has as much of an impact in terms of where the Republican Party is today as anybody else on that stage, and it is deeply troubling.”
Rubio so abhors legal abortion he would ban the procedure even for women who got pregnant through rape or incest — a stance he espoused during the debate and defended in television interviews. Energized by Rubio’s confident performance, his campaign tried to get as much mileage as possible from the candidate’s hard-line position.
So did Clinton. And nothing could have pleased Rubio more.
“Hillary Clinton holds radical views on abortion that we look forward to exposing in the months to come,” Rubio said in a statement just a few hours after he was singled out by the Democratic frontrunner. Among other things, he cited her support for legal late-term abortions.
The potential rivals found an issue upon which both could seize. Clinton appeals to women who are crucial to the Democratic political base. Rubio appeals to religious conservatives who will be key in early voting states such as Iowa.
Yet both strategies have a downside. By singling him out, Clinton, 67, risks reminding Republicans of the sharp generational contrast that Rubio, 44, would represent if she’s nominated. And Rubio imperils his ability to attract Democratic and independent voters by promoting an unpopular position — the kind of stance that can win a GOP primary but lose a general election.
“I’m Worried About Rubio’s Abortion Stance,” read a headline Monday in the conservative Daily Caller. Senior contributor Matt K. Lewis called Rubio the “best positioned” Republican to defeat Clinton, but noted Democrats will surely use Rubio’s sound bites in TV ads. “Let’s be honest, this is basically the best card Hillary will have to play,” Lewis wrote.
Public-opinion polls from several years ago on abortion show a majority of Americans favor exceptions for rape, incest and to protect a mother’s life. Among those supporters were the last five Republican presidential nominees — Mitt Romney, John McCain, George W. Bush, Bob Dole and George H.W. Bush — though the GOP hasn’t won a majority of the female vote in a presidential election since 1988. Ronald Reagan backed an exception to protect the mother’s life.
Rubio said Sunday on NBC News’ Meet the Press that looking after the mother’s health holds “the highest validity” as an exception — but said he wasn’t sure that, given modern medicine, there are “any instances in which only an abortion could save a mother’s life.”
He also said he supports widespread access to contraceptives, including the “morning-after” pill, to prevent unwanted pregnancies. However, Rubio, who is Catholic, has opposed laws such as the Affordable Care Act that require health-insurance plans to cover contraception even if employers object on religious grounds.
His campaign argues that the way he talks about abortion — with empathy — will shield him from backlash, which is why Democrats are highlighting his position.
When NBC News’ Andrea Mitchell noted Monday that Clinton’s campaign sees Rubio as “a real political threat,” Team Rubio posted the clip on YouTube — but left out the previous Mitchell line about Clinton saying Rubio’s “opposition to abortion even in cases of rape or incest is worse than the way Donald Trump talks about women.”
Trump suggested after Thursday’s debate that Fox News moderator Kelly was on her period when she asked him about past insults he’s hurled at women. “You could see there was blood coming out of her eyes,” Trump told CNN on Friday. “Blood coming out of her — wherever.”
The real-estate mogul later denied he was referencing Kelly’s menstruation, dismissing anyone who did as a “deviant.”
Clinton was peppered with questions Monday about Trump. Instead, she went after Rubio.
“I don’t want people to be confused here about the outrageous comments by one and just say, ‘We’re focused on this,’ and we’re going to let the fact that there should be no exceptions for rape or incest go unnoticed or unmentioned? I’m not going to let that happen,” she said.
At the debate, two other GOP candidates, former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee and Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, also endorsed outlawing abortion without exceptions. Trump and former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush both oppose abortion but accept exceptions for rape, incest and the mother’s life.
Abortion resurfaced as a campaign issue after an anti-abortion group released videos of Planned Parenthood staff talking about aborted fetal parts.
In the debate, Rubio argued with Kelly when she said he opposed legal abortion except in cases of rape and incest. He countered he never “advocated” that position, though he co-sponsored Senate legislation in 2013 and 2015 banning abortions at 20 weeks of pregnancy or later. Both bills included exceptions for rape and incest; PolitiFact found Rubio’s statement “mostly false.”
Rubio told CNN the day after the debate that he backed the proposals because they restricted abortion, not because he favored the exceptions for rape and incest, two traumas he called “horrifying.”
“I personally and honestly and deeply believe that all human life is worthy of protection irrespective of the circumstances in which that human life was created,” he said. “I personally believe you do not correct one tragedy with a second tragedy.”
This story was originally published August 12, 2015 at 7:07 AM with the headline "Marco Rubio takes hard line on abortion, drawing Hillary Clinton’s attention."