House Speaker Nancy Pelosi refused to say Thursday if an unborn baby at fifteen weeks is a human being.
“The Supreme Court this fall will review a Mississippi law that bans most abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy,” CNS News reporter Julia Johnson asked the California Democrat during a Thursday press conference. “Is an unborn baby at 15 weeks a human being?”
“Let me just say that I am a big supporter of Roe v. Wade. I’m the mother of five children in six years, I think I have some standing on this issue as to respecting a woman’s right to choose,” Pelosi responded, before calling on another reporter. (RELATED: Abortion Advocates And Many Democrats React With Anger, Worry As Supreme Court Reviews Case Challenging Roe V. Wade)
WATCH:
REPORTER: “Is an unborn baby at 15 weeks a human being?”
PELOSI: “Let me just say that I am a big supporter of Roe v. Wade. I am a mother of five children in six years. I think I have some standing on this issue.”pic.twitter.com/gil3ZeX6pp
— Daily Caller (@DailyCaller) June 17, 2021
“Is it a human being?” Johnson repeated, but Pelosi ignored the question and moved on to another reporter.
Republican Texas Sen. Ted Cruz called Pelosi’s comments “barbaric.”
“Barbaric. Speaker Pelosi refuses to say an unborn baby at 15 weeks is a human being,” Cruz tweeted. “Science doesn’t matter to today’s radical Dems—it’s all politics.”
Barbaric. Speaker Pelosi refuses to say an unborn baby at 15 weeks is a human being.
Science doesn’t matter to today’s radical Dems—it’s all politics. https://t.co/F4vtyn6RIB
— Ted Cruz (@tedcruz) June 17, 2021
Johnson was referring to an upcoming Supreme Court case in which the court will hear Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization. A decision on the case will likely come by June 2022, CNBC reported.
This will be the first major abortion case in which all three of former President Donald Trump’s Supreme Court justice appointees participate, including Justice Amy Coney Barrett, who gained a seat on the court after a contentious confirmation process in October.
The case deals with a 2018 Mississippi law banning abortions after 15 weeks, a law challenged by the Center for Reproductive Rights, the law firm Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison, and the Mississippi Center for Justice on behalf of the last remaining abortion clinic in Mississippi — Jackson Women’s Health Organization. After the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals struck down the law in December 2019, the state of Mississippi asked the Supreme Court to take up the case.
An unborn baby is considered viable at 24 weeks, though medical intervention and a stay in the NICU are usually required this early. Babies born before 23 weeks have a survival rate of about 5% to 6%, and analysis by Charlotte Lozier Institute medical experts found that unborn babies can feel pain as early as 12 weeks.
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