Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC), who launched an exploratory committee for president this week, was asked by Newsmax in New Hampshire on Thursday morning about the issue of a national abortion ban. Scott’s answer left a lot to be desired in terms of clarity.
“Would you support a federal ban on abortions?” asked national correspondent Mike Carter.
“I would simply say that the fact of the matter is, when you look at the issue of abortion, one of the challenges that we have, we continue to go through the most restrictive conversations without broadening the scope and taking a look at the fact that… I’m 100% pro-life,” Scott began without offering a yes or no on his support for a ban.
“I never walk away from that. But the truth of the matter is that when you look at the issues on abortion, I start with the very important conversation I had in a banking hearing where I was sitting in my office and listening to Janet Yellen, the secretary of the Treasury, talk about an increase in the labor force participation rate for African-American women who are in poverty by having abortions,” he continued, adding:
I think we’re just having the wrong conversation. I ran down to the banking hearing to see if I heard her right. Are you actually saying that a mom like mine should have an abortion so that we increase the labor force participation rate? That just seems
ridiculous to me. And so I’m going to continue to have a serious conversation about the issues that affect the American people. I want to start by pointing out the absolute hypocrisy of the left on the most one of the more important issues.
Carter quickly followed up by asking for an actual answer, “What do you say to a conservative, senator, who wants a clear message on that, though?”
Scott ignored the question and moved on to another reporter’s question.
Carter then spoke to the Newsmax studio and summed up Scott’s New Hampshire trip so far. “Alright, you guys can hear me on National Report. We have Senator Tim Scott here in Manchester, New Hampshire. We asked him, does he support a federal ban on abortions? Senator unwilling to go to that further step right now,” Carter reported, concluding:
Senator Lindsey Graham, his colleague in the Senate for South Carolina, supports a 15 week ban on abortions right now. Still haven’t got a clear definition from Senator Tim Scott on where he stands on the issue. Let’s stay with him and ask him a few more questions, see if and when what it will take for him to run for president and what he’s going to plan on doing here in the Granite State, what he’s looking to accomplish, back you guys.
Watch above via Newsmax.