JINDAL: Well, Planned Parenthood had better hope that Hillary Clinton wins this election, because I guarantee under President Jindal, January 2017, the Department of Justice and the IRS and everybody else that we can send from the federal government will be going in to Planned Parenthood. This is absolutely disgusting, and revolts the conscience of the nation. Absolutely, we need to defund Planned Parenthood. In my own state, for example, we launched an investigation, asked the FBI to cooperate. We just, earlier this week, kicked them out of Medicaid in Louisiana as well, canceled their provider contract. They don't provide any abortions in Louisiana. I don't think President Obama should send taxpayer dollars to this group that has been caught, I believe, breaking the law, but also offending our values and our ethics.
TRUMP: I've evolved on many issues over the years. And you know who else has? Is Ronald Reagan evolved on many issues. And I am pro-life. And if you look at the question, I was in business. They asked me a question as to pro-life or choice. And I said if you let [that quoted excerpt] run, that I hate the concept of abortion. I hate the concept of abortion. And then since then, I've very much evolved. And what happened is friends of mine years ago were going to have a child, and it was going to be aborted. And it wasn't aborted. And that child today is a total superstar, a great, great child. And I saw that. And I saw other instances. And I am very, very proud to say that I am pro-life.
PATAKI: Yes.
Q: Has this story changed your heart when it comes to abortion?
PATAKI: My heart has not changed, because I've always been appalled by abortion. I'm a Catholic, I believe life begins at conception. But Roe v. Wade, it's has been the law for 42 years, and I don't think we should continue to try to change it. But we can do is defund Planned Parenthood, and by the way, put in place an absolute permanent ban on any taxpayer dollars ever being used to fund abortions. Also, when you look at these videos, they are horrific and show just a hideous disrespect for life.
PATAKI: We should believe in science. Hillary Clinton's always saying how Republicans don't follow science. Well, they're the ones not listening to the scientists today, because doctors say that at 20 weeks that is a viable life inside the womb. And at that point, it's a life that we have the right to protect, and I think we should protect. So, I would pass legislation outlawing abortion after 20 weeks. It is Hillary, it is Biden, it is the others who insist on allowing abortion well into viability [who are] wrong, and that should be stopped.
GILMORE: I'm a former elected prosecutor, a former elected attorney general, trained at the University of Virginia in constitutional law, and I don't believe in litmus tests except this: I believe we should be appointing Supreme Court justices who will follow the law and not try to make the law. Now, the challenge we're seeing today is that the Supreme Court is being converted into some type of political body. My goal in appointing Supreme Court justices would be to appoint justices who would follow the law. Q: So, no litmus test on abortion?
GILMORE: Not on that, no.
GRAHAM: I don't think it's a war on women for all of us as Americans to stand up and stop harvesting organs from little babies. Let's take the money that we would give to Planned Parenthood and put it in women's health care without having to harvest the organs of the unborn. The only way we're going to defund Planned Parenthood is have a pro-life president.
GRAHAM: Change the Mexico City policy, not take one dime of taxpayer money to fund abortion organizations overseas, and restore the NSA that's been gutted. We're going dark when it comes to detecting the next attack. We have gutted our ability to detect the next attack. And I would not stand for that as president of the United States. I would take the fight to these guys, whatever it took, as long as it took.
RUBIO: I'm not sure that that's a correct assessment of my record.
Q: You don't favor a rape and incest exception?
RUBIO: I have never said that. And I have never advocated that. What I have advocated is that we pass law in this country that says all human life at every stage of its development is worthy of protection. In fact, I think that law already exists. It is called the Constitution of the United States. And let me go further. I believe that every single human being is entitled to the protection of our laws, whether they can vote or not. Whether they can speak or not. Whether they can hire a lawyer or not. Whether they have a birth certificate or not. And I think future generations will look back at this history of our country and call us barbarians for murdering millions of babies who we never gave them a chance to live.
HUCKABEE: I disagree with the idea that the real issue is a constitutional amendment. That's a long and difficult process. I've actually taken the position that's bolder than that. I think the next president ought to invoke the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments to the constitution now that we clearly know that that baby inside the mother's womb is a person at the moment of conception. The reason we know that it is, is because of the DNA schedule that we now have clear scientific evidence on. And, this notion that we just continue to ignore the personhood of the individual is a violation of that unborn child's Fifth and 14th Amendment rights for due process and equal protection under the law. It's time that we recognize the Supreme Court is not the supreme being, and we change the policy to be pro-life and protect children instead of rip up their body parts and sell them like they're parts to a Buick.
SANTORUM: It is not any more than Dred Scott was settled law to Abraham Lincoln, who, in his first inaugural address, said "it won't stand." And they went ahead and passed laws in direct contravention to a rogue Supreme Court. This is a rogue Supreme Court decision. There is no constitutional basis for the Supreme Court's decision. One of the times the Supreme Court spoke that I thought they were acting outside of their authority was in a partial-birth abortion case. Abortions being done where the baby's being delivered first, and then they crush the skull. Well, the Supreme Court found a bill that I was the author of unconstitutional. What did I do? I didn't stop. I didn't say "oh, well, we lost. It's the law of the land." We worked together. The House and Senate, under my leadership, and we passed a bill, and we said, "Supreme Court, you're wrong." Sometimes it just takes someone to lead and stand up to the court.
WALKER: Well, I'm pro-life, I've always been pro-life, and I believe that an unborn child can be protected, and there are many other alternatives that can also protect the life of that mother. That's been consistently proven. Unlike Hillary Clinton, who has a radical position in terms of support for Planned Parenthood, I defunded Planned Parenthood more than four years ago, long before any of these videos came out. I've got a position that's in line with everyday America.
The next thing I intend to do is instruct the Department of Justice to open an investigation into these videos and to prosecute Planned Parenthood for any criminal violations.
The next thing I intend to do is instruct the Department of Justice and the IRS to stop persecuting religious liberty, and then intend to cancel the Iran deal, and finally move the U.S. embassy in Israel to Jerusalem.
I will keep my word. My father fled Cuba, and I will fight to defend liberty because my family knows what it's like to lose it.
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| 2016 Presidential contenders on Abortion: | |||
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Republicans:
Sen.Ted Cruz(TX) Carly Fiorina(CA) Gov.John Kasich(OH) Sen.Marco Rubio(FL) Donald Trump(NY) |
Democrats:
Secy.Hillary Clinton(NY) Sen.Bernie Sanders(VT) 2016 Third Party Candidates: Roseanne Barr(PF-HI) Robert Steele(L-NY) Dr.Jill Stein(G,MA) | ||
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