Pawlenty says there should be no criminal sanction for abortion
When asked by a reporter at an Iowa stop what the penalty should be for women who have abortions and doctors who perform abortions if his stance on overturning legal abortion prevails, Tim Pawlenty initially said there shouldn’t be a criminal sanction. It was a statement that his spokesman quickly clarified after the appearance. Former Gov.
Jul 31, 2020758.8K Shares12.2M Views
When asked by a reporter at an Iowa stop what the penalty should be for women who have abortions and doctors who perform abortions if his stance on overturning legal abortion prevails, Tim Pawlenty initially said there shouldn’t be a criminal sanction. It was a statement that his spokesman quickly clarified after the appearance.
Former Gov. Pawlenty, the second state executive to proclaim an Abortion Recovery and Awareness month, has been quite clear during other Iowa campaign appearances that his belief is that the U.S. Supreme Court decision Roe v. Wade should be overturned, effectively banning all access to legal abortion services in the country. Yet when asked by Carroll Daily Times Herald reporter Douglas Burns what the penalty should befor doctors or women engaging in abortion, Pawlenty said there isn’t “a specific penalty that we have proposed for that” and while he believes there should be “consequences,” he isn’t willing to call for “criminal sanctions.”
“I don’t think we want to make it a criminal sanction but I think there should be some kind of penalty or consequence, but we don’t have a specific proposal as to what that would be,” Pawlenty said.
Although Burns attempts a follow-up question to determine if the scenario is one that Pawlenty has previously considered, a campaign staff member signals that Burns’ one question has been used and the interview comes to a close.
Listen to the exchange:
Eric Woolson, Iowa spokesman for the campaign, later phoned the Daily Times Herald to clarify Pawlenty’s statement:
“„… “As you know, this was the last question in the press scrum and discussion got chopped off.” Woolson said. “To be clear, if Roe v. Wade is overturned, the issue of abortion returns to the states for them to decide the issue and penalties, if any. As to the governor’s views on these matters, he believes that if abortion becomes illegal, abortion providers should be subject to a penalty possibly including a criminal penalty. However, he does not believe women should be penalized.”
“„Added Woolson, “I apologize for creating the confusion by ending the discussion because we were behind schedule.” …
When asked about the initial statement, Maggie DeWitte, executive director of Iowans for Life, an anti-abortion group, noted her perception that Pawlenty was positive on the issue, but added “it does give me pause.”
Paolo Reyna
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