Greg Abbott pivots under pressure when asked if he supports abortion exceptions for rape and incest victims

11 October 2022

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) recently avoided answering critical questions about whether or not he would support exceptions for abortion when it comes to rape and incest victims.

The comments were made during an interview that took place on Sunday, October 9. When asked about the necessary provision, Abbott focused solely on his priorities which include making sure doctors do "everything that they can to protect the life of the mother."

Abortion has been a point of contention in Texas due to the state's deeply restrictive laws that went into effect after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade back in June.

The law, per Newsweek, "criminalizes performing an abortion from the moment of fertilization, unless the patient is facing 'a life-threatening physical condition aggravated by, caused by, or arising from a pregnancy.'"

During the interview, ABC13 reporter Tom Abrahams grilled about his stance on abortion exceptions; a stance he refused to offer a clear perspective on. Abrahams referenced a recent poll with responses from 1,020 adults. The poll results suggest that 77 percent of Texas residents support the idea of abortion exceptions for rape and incest victims.

Abrahams asked Abbott, "Why is the law as restrictive as it is? Why not include rape and incest?"

"Because it's the law that was passed by the legislature," the Republican governor said.

Abbott went on to pivot and shift the focus to his Democratic opponent Beto O'Rourke saying he believes in "'unlimited abortion at taxpayer expense' and that he is in favor of abortion of 'a fully developed baby to one second right before that fully developed baby is born.'"

However, Abrahams didn't back down. At another point during the interview, he asked about the exceptions again. "Is that something that the legislature might revisit?" he asked the governor.

Abbott shifted to discuss his focus. "Let me tell you what I'm focused on in the coming session," the governor said. "And that is, we must make clear not only that the life of the mother is as important as the life of the baby. But we need to clarify what that really means because the medical profession and politicians have mischaracterized that."

He added, "Some women have miscarriages, some have ectopic pregnancies, some have other health issues related to their pregnancy that could impair their life and endanger their life."

"Some doctors have said that they're not going to treat those situations. We must both clarify and make sure that the medical profession is doing everything that they can to protect the life of the mother."

The reporter asked the question yet again whether or not Abbott would support exceptions to which he said, "There's going to be things ranging from just across the board with regard to different proposals, addressing abortion, and we'll see what comes up."

Abbott added, "All I can tell you is the last thing that we will do is to what Beto stands for, and that is to allow basically the killing of a fully developed child just a second before that child is born and not doing anything to help the child who survives an abortion."

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