Former Gov. Nikki Haley called for civility in the abortion debate and refused to commit to any specific abortion ban, saying that she would only sign a bill that can get through Congress.
“I would support anything that would pass. But you have to be honest with the American people,” Haley said during the third GOP debate Wednesday. “I would sign anything that would get 60 Senate votes. Don’t make the American people think you’re going to push something on them when you don’t even have the votes in the Senate.”
Throughout the campaign, Haley has avoided being tied down to a specific time frame on when she would ban abortion if she were elected president.
“This is a personal issue for every woman and every man,” Haley said, while calling for civility in the debate.
“So when we’re looking at this, there are some states that are going more on the pro-life side. I welcome that. There are some states that are going more on the pro-choice side — I wish that wasn’t the case, but the people decided,” she said. “We don’t need to divide America over this issue anymore.”
Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.) pressed Haley to commit to backing a 15-week ban, but she pointed out that when Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) introduced such a bill last year, Scott was not a co-sponsor.
That bill never made it to the Senate floor for a vote.
On Tuesday, Democrats in Virginia won control of the state Legislature after campaigning against Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s promise to enact a 15-week ban if Republicans won.
Youngkin put the proposal at the center of his campaigning for fellow Republicans and tried to cast it as a moderate compromise because it included exceptions for rape, incest and the health of the mother. But voters rejected it.
Republicans in general have been losing a number of elections in which abortion has been a dominant issue since the Supreme Court overturned the Roe v. Wade decision.
In Ohio on Tuesday, voters approved an amendment to the state constitution ensuring access to abortion.