Women Who Have Abortions ‘Shouldn’t Be Jailed or Given the Death Penalty’ Says Nikki Haley at CNN Town Hall

Former South Carolina governor and U.N ambassador Nikki Haley spoke with CNN anchor Jake Tapper and audience members at the CNN Republican Presidential Town Hall on Sunday night, and said that she believes we can all agree that women should not be jailed or “given the death penalty” for having an abortion.

An Iowa Republican activist and a self-identified pro-life voter in the audience asked Haley about the candidate’s plans on the subject of abortion.

Haley said that she is “unapologetically pro-life,” but that she does not “judge anyone for being pro-choice, any more than I want them to judge me for being pro-life.”

Haley spoke about Roe v. Wade and the fact that it was overturned, and said that abortion is a “personal issue for every woman and man in America.”

She then explained that the media and political activists have distorted the truth about how abortion laws work in the country.

“Don’t let anyone in the media, don’t let any political party tell you that a Republican president can ban abortion laws in our country because they can’t any more than a Democrat president can ban our state laws,” she said.

Haley listed items that she believes all Americans can agree on as a starting place, such as “banning late-term abortions,” “encouraging adoptions,” and that doctors and nurses who object should not be compelled to perform abortions, among others.

“And I think we can all come together and say any woman that has an abortion shouldn’t be jailed o given the death penalty,” she said. “Can’t we start there?”

CNN’s previous presidential town hall event for the 2024 election featured ex-president Donald Trump.

HALEY: This is a personal issue for every woman and man in America, and it should be treated with the respect that way. So now that the unelected justices are out there and it’s back in the hands of the people of the states, which is where it should be, there are some states that have become more pro-life, and I welcome that. And there are some states that have been more on the abortion side. I wish that wasn’t the case, but that’s what happened.

The question that everybody is talking about is, is there a federal role for this? And I think that there is a federal role for this. But if we’re going to do that, you have to be honest with the American people of what it takes to do that. In order to pass anything, you have to have a majority of the House, you have to have 60 Senate votes, and you have to have a signature of a president.

We haven’t had 60 pro-life senators in over 100 years. We might have 45. So if you look at it from that standpoint, don’t let anyone in the media, don’t let any political party tell you that a Republican president can ban abortion laws in our country because they can’t any more than a Democrat president can ban our state laws.

So what can we do with consensus? That’s exactly what it is. We come through with consensus and say, what can we all agree on? I think we can all agree on banning late-term abortions. I think we can all agree on encouraging adoptions and making sure those foster kids feel more love, not less.

I think we can agree on doctors and nurses who don’t believe in abortion, shouldn’t have to perform them. I think we can agree on the fact that contraception should be accessible.

And I think we can all come together and say any woman that has an abortion shouldn’t be jailed o given the death penalty. Can’t we start there? Can’t we start there? Because what – Because what the politicos and what the media have done is they’ve made you demonize the situation when it’s so personal that we have to humanize the situation. Our goal should always be: how do we save as many babies as we can and support as many mothers in that process as we do it?

Watch the clip above via CNN.

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