The Anti-Abortion Olympics

By Laurie Baron

Laurie Baron

SAN DIEGO — Last week the Republican candidates for president addressed the Faith and Freedom Coalition Conference.  They competed to demonstrate which of them could come up with the most restrictive bans on abortion.

Mike Pence pledged to pass a federal ban on abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy.  For many in attendance, that was too long.  Since he didn’t want to be perceived as being too soft on the women who opted to undergo abortions before fifteen weeks, he insisted that government statistics label them as wanton women or unmaternal monsters.

Chris Christie got booed for confiding that the best thing to abort was Donald Trump’s candidacy at least 15 weeks before the Republican presidential convention.

Ron DeSantis touted his passage of a Florida ban on abortions after six weeks because by that time, there is a detectable fetal heartbeat.  When asked by a reporter about Christie’s proposal for aborting Trump’s candidacy, he joked that it could be done since Trump does not have a detectable heart.

Tim Scott applauded the Republicans for tackling the abortion issue and creating a “culture of life.”  He then reiterated his support for the death penalty and opposition to limiting qualified immunity for police who injure or kill people they are arresting.

Nicki Haley shifted her position from advocating for states to ban abortions to a call for a federal ban because when you’re registering lower than the unhung Mike Pence in the polls you need to change something.

Donald Trump praised himself for appointing the Supreme Court justices who overturned Roe v. Wade.  He claimed he had planned this all out in a memo from 2016 but couldn’t prove it since it had been seized by the FBI in the Mar-A-Lago raid.

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Baron is professor emeritus at San Diego State University. He may be contacted via Lawrence.baron@sdjewishworld.com

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