Hillary Clinton Defends Aborting Babies Through Full Term of Pregnancy in 3rd Presidential Debate
Democratic Party nominee Hillary Rodham Clinton defended the legalization of aborting babies up until the moment of delivery in the third presidential debate.
At the final presidential debate between her and Republican Party nominee Donald Trump on Wednesday, Clinton was asked by Fox News' Chris Wallace her views on to what extent abortion should be regulated.
"You have been quoted as saying that the fetus has no constitutional rights. You also voted against a ban on late-term, partial-birth abortions. Why?" asked Wallace.
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Clinton told those gathered at the University of Nevada in Las Vegas that "Roe v. Wade very clearly sets out that there can be regulations on abortion so long as the life and the health of the mother are taken into account."
"The kinds of cases that fall at the end of pregnancy are often the most heartbreaking, painful decisions for families to make," said Clinton.
"I do not think the United States government should be stepping in and making those most personal of decisions. So you can regulate if you are doing so with the life and the health of the mother taken into account."
The health of the mother exception is essentially a loophole because the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the abortionist can decide what qualifies as good for the health of the mother.
Trump, who said earlier in the debate he would appoint pro-life judges to the United States Supreme Court, pressed Clinton about her position on abortion.
"I think it's terrible. If you go with what Hillary is saying, in the ninth month, you can take the baby and rip the baby out of the womb of the mother just prior to the birth of the baby. Now, you can say that that's OK and Hillary can say that that's OK. But it's not OK with me," argued Trump.
Clinton responded to Trump's criticism by stating that it was "scare rhetoric" and restated that "I do not believe the government should be making it."
Conservatives have argued that Clinton is an extremist on abortion, with her campaign platform opposing a late term abortion ban and supporting the removal of the Hyde Amendment, which limits federal funding of abortion.
When it comes to the Hyde Amendment, a YouGov poll found that 55 percent of Americans, as well as 41 percent of Democrats, support the ban.
"Across most of the United States there is no public funding for elective abortions whatsoever, and only Washington, Maryland and New York have passed laws to provide state funds for elective abortion," noted YouGov.
"For decades this compromise has been fairly uncontroversial, but for the first time in 2016 the Democratic Party platform calls for federal funding of elective abortions."
A July 16 Marist poll found that only 13 percent of Americans think abortion should be legal "through the entire pregnancy" and a 2012 Gallup poll found only 14 percent of Americans believe abortion should be legal "in the last three months of pregnancy."
