White House hopeful Haley supports federal protections for the unborn

Nikki Haley on Tuesday said that she would try to save as many unborn babies and help as many pregnant mothers as possible if she became president. Haley spoke at the Washington, D.C., headquarters of the pro-life organization Susan B. Anthony List Pro-Life America, or SBA. She argued that lawmakers needed to reach a consensus and make an effort to protect unborn babies at the federal level.

What are other Republican candidates saying about the issue? The SBA has criticized former President Donald Trump’s campaign for taking the position that states should decide on abortion policy. SBA won’t back any candidate that wouldn’t also support federal protection for unborn babies after 15 weeks of pregnancy at the latest. Republican presidential candidate Asa Hutchinson has said that he would sign a bill with SBA-recommended protections if it contained exceptions for certain cases. But he prefers that states decide on abortion policy for themselves.

Dig deeper: Read Leah Savas’s report in Vitals about the tug-of-war taking place in the courts surrounding the FDA’s approval of the abortion drug mifepristone.