Sunday Political Talk Show interviews during 2015: on Abortion

Ben Carson: Need civil discussion between pro-life and pro-choice

CARSON: There is no question that hateful rhetoric, no matter which side it comes from, is something that is detrimental to our society. Our strength in this country has traditionally been in our unity and we are allowing all kinds of circumstances to divide us and make us hateful toward each other. When you have outside forces, global Islamic radical jihadists who want to destroy us, why would we be doing that to ourselves? We at some point have got to become more mature. No question the hateful rhetoric exacerbates the situation, and we should be doing all we can to engage an intelligence, civil discussion about our differences.

Q: Should those who oppose abortion rights tone down their rhetoric?

CARSON: I think both sides should tone down their rhetoric and engage in civil discussion.

Mike Huckabee: Pro-life rhetoric not to blame in clinic shootout

HUCKABEE: We don't know fully what the facts are. But regardless of why he did it, what he did is absolutely abominable, especially to those of us in the pro-life movement, because none of us would condone something like this.There is no legitimizing. There is no rationalizing. It was mass murder. So, I think that's a little bit disingenuous on the part of Planned Parenthood to blame people who have a strong philosophical disagreement with the dismembering of human babies to say that we would like to retaliate by sending some madman into a clinic to kill people.

Mike Huckabee: Abortion should be illegal but not criminal

HUCKABEE: Well, there wouldn't be a criminal penalty against a woman. I have often said that there are two victims with every abortion. One is the unborn child who loses its life, and the other is often that woman who is talked into the abortion, pressured into it, maybe feels she has no other option. There's no reason to criminalize her. I personally think that that would be a useless and, frankly, a harsh and unnecessary kind of attack on a woman who needs love and support and assistance, not criminalization.

Donald Trump: Defund Planned Parenthood

TRUMP: I do not want to say that because I want to show unpredictability. You have to. You can't just go around and say that. But Planned Parenthood should absolutely be defunded. I mean if you look at what's going on with that, it's terrible. And many of the things should be defunded and many things should be cut.

Martin O`Malley: A decision to abort is between a woman and her doctor

Jeb Bush: Defund Planned Parenthood, but not with federal shutdown

BUSH: I'm against a government shutdown. That's not how democracy works. But I defunded Planned Parenthood when I was governor. And I think it's abhorrent that 330,000 or 340,000 abortions take place through these clinics. I'm a pro-life governor and I'd be a pro-life president. But it will have no effect on funding for Planned Parenthood. That's the problem in Washington right now. It's so dysfunctional that that's considered a victory. Continue to fund Planned Parenthood, shut down the government and then cost the taxpayers more. It is better to elect a conservative president that will pledge to do it and work with Congress.

Lawrence Lessig: I would veto a law defunding Planned Parenthood

The other is to say what I would do with a long list of specific proposals. That's the bit I meant by a trustee for the VP--to decide things that make the next administration as effective and successful as it can be--except to the extent it interferes with the task of passing the CEA or is something I could not morally do.

E.g., Congress passes a law defunding planned parenthood. I'm against it. I'm sure the VP is against it. I exercise my power to veto it.

Carly Fiorina: Fund health clinics for non-abortion & alternative services

FIORINA: Well, of course not. All of those things are important. Of course we should be funding those things. But I find it fascinating that Democrats will never support taxpayer funding, for example, for a women's health center right next door to a Planned Parenthood that would provide all those same services and also provide women an alternative to abortion.

Carly Fiorina: GOP should shut government to defund Planned Parenthood

A: Something very important has changed since the last government shutdown. What's changed is the Republican Party has historic majorities in the House and we now control the majority in the Senate. A lot of people worked really hard out there in the nation to make that happen. I think people worked hard because they expected a change based on that majority.

Chris Christie: Put defunding of Planned Parenthood on the president's desk

[plays clip] Q: would you support a shutdown?

A: I said that you shouldn't be throwing around threats--you should take action and that's what I have done as governor of New Jersey, to defund Planned Parenthood six years ago. You should put the defunding of Planned Parenthood on the president's desk. If he's going to veto it, let the American people see that he stands with the folds who believe that the systematic murder of children in the womb, in a way that preserves the body parts to be sold on the open market, is something that he stands for.

John Kasich: Federal shutdown ineffective in defunding Planned Parenthood

KASICH: I think Planned Parenthood ought to be defunded, no question about it. We're doing everything we can in Ohio to figure out how to get that done. Although, if you're going to shut the government down, you're never going to get anything signed by the president because he's in total opposition. So you'd shut the government down, and then over time you'd have to open it back up again and you wouldn't have achieved much. So I think there other ways for Congress to deal with this. In this case, the President's made it clear that he's not going to sign it. Now I'm willing to fight all day long, but you've got to have a good prospect of being able to be successful because if you're not successful, you haven't achieved anything, you're going to have people shake their heads and wonder what your thinking was.

Scott Walker: We defunded Planned Parenthood in a blue state

Chris Christie: Successfully defunded Planned Parenthood in New Jersey

CHRISTIE: In New Jersey, six years ago, I defunded Planned Parenthood. And I made it stick. We've viewed it 8 different times in New Jersey, and we've made that veto stick each and every time, despite veto override attempts.

Q: But here you've got a Democratic executive who would veto if Congress were somehow to pass a budget that defunded Planned Parenthood.

CHRISTIE: Maybe we should test the president, because in the end, we haven't done anything yet in Congress to test him. I think we should be putting it on his desk. I think we should be passing repeal and replacement of ObamaCare and putting it one his desk. Let the United States people see who is the real obstructionist in Washington DC.

Ben Carson: Was personally against abortion; but what others do matters

A: I made no bones about the fact that I used to be a Democrat. Over the course of time, my views have changed dramatically. In 1992, I personally was against abortion, but I was not for causing anybody else to do anything. I changed because I began to think about, if abolitionists a long time ago had said, "I don't believe in slavery, but anybody else can do it if they want to," where would we be today?

Ben Carson: Planned Parenthood historically targets black communities

CARSON: Well, you have to go back to the beginnings of the organization. Planned Parenthood founder Margaret Sanger believed that certain people, including blacks, were inferior and that the way you strengthen the society is you get rid of them. She basically believed in eugenics.

Ben Carson: Drugs OK to prevent conception in instances of rape & incest

CARSON: I think that when conception occurs, life occurs. But I do believe in contraception. So let's say someone has been raped and they are administered that drug, it can prevent ovulation which allows that egg to come down, because a healthy sperm can live for up to five or six days, but if ovulation doesn't occur, then you're not going to have conception.

Donald Trump: Planned Parenthood is important, but abortions must stop

TRUMP:I don't know--but it's possible. I give to so many organizations over the years. Hundreds of millions of dollars, so I really don't know. But look, Planned Parenthood has to stop with the abortions. A lot of people consider it an abortion clinic. I think those tapes that I saw were outrageous and disgusting by any standpoint. And they have to stop.

Q: So you would not shut down the government over Planned Parenthood funding?

TRUMP: I wouldn't fund it if they have abortion going on. Now, you hear all different numbers. They say it's 3%, other people say it's 85%. That's a big difference. So I'd certainly look into it.

Q: But would you shut down the government over this dispute?

Source: Meet the Press 2015 interviews of 2016 presidential hopefuls Aug 16, 2015

John Kasich: Reasonable exceptions, but respect other opinions

A: Right.

Q: Should there be exceptions?

A: Yes, I have always been for exceptions.

Q: Which ones?

A: For rape, incest, and life of the mother.

Q: Two of your competitors, Marco Rubio and Scott Walker, said they're for no exceptions. Does that make you more electable?

A: No matter what your position is on the issue, you have to have respect for people. And I do. And it's an issue that people have a right to have a different point of view.

Q: Do you think that they would be electable against a Democrat, if they support no exceptions?

A: Well, I think that it's an important issue, but I think there's many other issues that are really critical, early childhood, infant mortality, the environment, education. I think we focus too much on just one issue.

Q: But it's one that matters in a lot of people's lives.

A: To a lot of people on both sides.

Q: Why are exceptions part of your belief?

A: Because I think it's reasonable.

Mike Huckabee: Taking innocent life does not solve problem of rape

A: Does it solve a problem by taking the life of an innocent child? And that's really the issue. So when I think about one horror, I also think about the possibilities that exist. And I just don't want to think that somehow we discount human life. I realize there are some people that will be very different in their view of this than me, and I respect that.

Ben Carson: I spent my career saving the lives of little babies

In cases such as those, Carson said you have to "look at the individual situation," but called the "life of the mother" question "largely a spurious argument" because advances in medicine have made it so "that situation rarely occurs."

While abortions performed solely to save the life of the mother are rare, doctors have asserted that they can be medically necessary. And even the National Right to Life Committee has stated its position is "to allow abortion if necessary to prevent the death of the mother."

Marco Rubio: Abortion is complex issue; we must reduce the number of them

RUBIO: That's why this issue is so hard. There is no doubt that a woman has a right to her own body, has a right to make decisions about her own health and her own future. There's no doubt. And then, there's this other right. And that's the right of a human being to live. And these rights come into conflict when it comes to this issue. And, so, you have to make a decision.

Q: And that decision is.

RUBIO: Listen, you're 15 years old and you become pregnant and you're scared and you have your whole life ahead of you and you're facing this, that is a hard situation. I tell people all the time, "Don't pretend this is easy." This is a difficult question. But when asked to make a decision between two very hard circumstances, I've personally reached the conclusion if I'm going to err, I'm going to err on the side of life. I'll support any legislation that reduces the number of abortions.

Rand Paul: Fund community health centers instead of Planned Parenthood

A: I think most Americans don't want their tax dollars going to this. I think most people do want to defund this. We have 9,000 community health centers that do everything Planned Parenthood does, but they don't get into abortions. So it would be much less emotional for everyone if we just funded community health centers.

Q: Do you support continued funding for community health centers?

A: I do support a role for government in community health centers. The specific bill, including it in ObamaCare, obviously would make it such that I can't support that particular bill.

Q: Ted Cruz said he's prepared to shut down the government, if that's what it takes to defund Planned Parenthood. Do you support that?

A: I support any legislation that will defund Planned Parenthood. But I don't think you can start out with your objective to shut down the government.

Rand Paul: Force a Senate vote on defunding Planned Parenthood

PAUL: I've submitted a discharge petition--this is highly unusual for a non-leadership position to submit a discharge petition. This means that I'm going to try to force a vote on this. I really think that the time has come in our country to debate whether people want their taxpayer dollars going to this kind of procedure.

Q: And it looks like you're not going to get a vote on the Senate floor?

PAUL: They may block me today on this bill, but I'm trying to file for a discharge position to have a separate bill. If I have 16 senators to sign a bill saying they think we should defund Planned Parenthood, and I guarantee you that people across America who are outraged by this are going to call their senators and say, "Have you signed Rand Paul's discharge petition?"

Scott Walker: Ban abortion after 20 weeks at both state & federal level

Walker said in last year's campaign he opposed abortion, but refused to say whether he supported banning the procedure after 20 weeks. In a Tuesday letter, he addressed specific legislation head on: "As the Wisconsin legislature moves forward in the coming session, further protections for mother and child are likely to come to my desk in the form of a bill to prohibit abortions after 20 weeks," his letter said. "I will sign that bill when it gets to my desk and support similar legislation on the federal level. I was raised to believe in the sanctity of life and I will always fight to protect it."

Jeb Bush: Husband of Terri Schiavo blames Bush for harassment

Michael Schiavo called Jeb Bush a vindictive, untrustworthy coward. For years, the self-described "average Joe" felt harassed, targeted and tormented by the most important person in the state. "It was a living hell," he said, "and I blame him."

Seen in thousands of pages of court records, was Jeb the converted Catholic, Jeb the pro-life conservative, Jeb the hands-on workaholic, Jeb the all-hours emailer.

The case showed he "will pursue whatever he thinks is right, virtually forever," said one pundit: "It's a theme of Jeb's governorship: He really pushed executive power to the limits."