Buttigieg Campaign Fires Back at ‘False Attack’ From Fox & Friends Over Abortion Comments
South Bend mayor and presidential hopeful Pete Buttigieg’s campaign fired back at Fox & Friends on Saturday, accusing the show’s hosts of airing a “massive distortion” of his comments on abortion.
The mayor, speaking to New York radio show The Breakfast Club on Friday, made comments that have come under fire and were the subject of multiple segments on Fox & Friends Saturday morning. He sought to make a point about the Republican party, religion, and disagreements over when life begins:
“[Republicans] hold everybody in line with this one piece of doctrine about abortion, which is obviously a tough issue for a lot of people to think through morally. Then again, you know, there’s a lot of parts of the Bible that talk about how life begins with breath. Even that is something that we can interpret differently… No matter where you think about the kind of cosmic question of how life begins, most Americans can get on board with the idea of, ‘Alright, I might draw the here. You might draw the line there.’ But the most important thing is the person who should be drawing the line is the woman making the decision.”
Conservatives in particular have objected to Buttigieg’s comments about the Bible. National Review writer Alexandra Desanctis accused the mayor of seeking to “twist Scripture in defense of his abhorrent” position on abortion. Buttigieg’s brother-in-law, an evangelical pastor, called on the Democratic candidate to “repent” for his “outrageous” comments on abortion.
Fox & Friends covered Buttigieg’s comments repeatedly on Saturday, mischaracterizing them to state the candidate had expressed his belief life begins at first breath.
Fox & Friends weekend host Pete Hegseth described Buttigieg’s position as “basically being pro-abortion all the way until the ninth month.”
“He said life begins at breath, not at conception,” co-host Ed Henry added, falsely. Hegseth accused Buttigieg of “using the Bible to justify the taking of an innocent life in a child.”
“It’s sick,” Hegseth added.
In a subsequent segment on the topic, Fox contributor Dan Bongino deemed Buttigieg “not that bright of a guy,” and absurdly declared Democrats “the party of open infanticide”
Mediaite reached out to the Buttigieg campaign for comment on Fox’s coverage, and press secretary Chris Meagher responded that this is “just the latest false attack” on the candidate.
“This is, of course, a massive distortion of what Pete said, and just the latest false attack on Pete this week,” Meagher wrote in an email. “Pete will continue to focus on how he is the right candidate to address the urgency of the moment we are currently in, a message that is clearly resonating with folks all across the country.”
Watch above, via Fox News.
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