Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.), a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, today questioned hearing witnesses about whether they support making it legal to abort, with unfettered discretion, an unborn child up to the moment of birth.
Two witnesses invited by Democrats repeatedly refused to tell Kennedy whether they would support such a law. Both witnesses invited by Republicans on the committee said they would not support that law.
After giving majority witnesses Michele Goodwin, a professor at the University of California, Irvine School of Law, and Nisha Verma, M.D. several opportunities to answer whether they support “making it legal to abort an unborn baby for any reason—any reason—up to the moment before birth,” Kennedy noted the significance of their refusal.
“I want you to all understand where I’m coming from. This is a tough issue. And it’s a tough issue because there’s some tough questions we’ve got to answer. And when you won’t answer the questions, when you’re invited by my Democratic friends—the majority—and you won’t answer the most fundamental question: We’ve got a bill in front of us that will basically say, ‘A woman has the unfettered right to abort, at any time, for any reason, up to the moment of birth.’ And that’s a gut-check issue. And, I would expect you, as experts, to answer that truthfully, how you’d do it,” he said.
When presented with the same question, the two witnesses invited by Republicans responded candidly.
Monique Wubbenhorst, M.D. said, “No.”
Ingrid Skop, M.D. replied, “I do not support unfettered abortion, and I would like to point out that, if a woman did have a life-threatening condition in pregnancy past approximately 22 weeks, that baby can be delivered alive by induction or C-section, and we can try to save that baby. The intent of abortion is a dead baby, and that is not necessary in that situation.”
Watch the full exchange here.
