After GOP’s presumptive presidential nominee and former President Donald Trump boasted about “killing Roe v Wade” and announced that he would — if re-elected — let states create their own abortion restrictions, MAGA loyalist Rep. Greg Murphy (R-NC) spoke on Fox News about how abortion will be a “big issue” in the 2024 election. (Arizona’s Supreme Court, with its decision this week to revert to an abortion ban from the 19th century — before Arizona was a state — has since turned up the heat even higher on the issue.)
[Note: A recent Fox News poll revealed that 70 percent of voters favor preserving the legality of the abortion medication Mifepristone.]
Congressman Murphy acknowledged that it’s going to be “a big issue every time” because, according to Murphy (who is a urologist), “you have folks on, really on both sides, really probably more Democrat, that wants [sic] abortion literally when it’s coming, when the child is coming out of the birth canal.”
GOP Rep. Greg Murphy accuses Democrats of wanting abortion “literally when the child is coming out of the birth canal” pic.twitter.com/9Kb57ORv6k
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) April 9, 2024
Murphy is repeating a talking point about infanticide that Republicans, including Donald Trump (see below) have used to stir outrage.
Senate Democrats just voted against legislation to prevent the killing of newborn infant children. The Democrat position on abortion is now so extreme that they don’t mind executing babies AFTER birth….
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 26, 2019
The bill Trump refers to would force doctors to resuscitate a baby that is unlikely survive. Some opponents of the bill point to the Born-Alive Infants Protection Act of 2002, which is already in place to protect newborns.
Note: Less than 1 percent of all abortions are done after 24 weeks, and many are performed because the fetus “has a condition that cannot be treated and will never be able to survive” or the pregnant woman’s life or health is at severe risk.