Rand Paul presidential campaign, 2016/Abortion
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 Rand Paul |
U.S. Senator (Assumed office: 2011) |
2028 • 2024 • 2020 • 2016 |
This page was current as of the 2016 election.
- Rand Paul introduced the “Life at Conception Act” on January 21, 2016, which “would implement equal protection under the 14th Amendment for the right to life of each born and unborn human.”[2]
| Video released by Paul discussing abortion rights in April 2015. |
- On September 22, 2015, Rand Paul said that he would vote for a bill to defund Planned Parenthood and proposed a plan for funding the government. He said, "Why wouldn’t we put all 12 appropriations bills up? They’ve passed the committees. Just put them up one at a time, have a separate vote on Planned Parenthood. Those things that don’t get 60 votes, guess what, we don’t spend any money on."[3]
- On September 10, 2015, Paul said that Republicans should send a funding bill to President Barack Obama that does not include funds for Planned Parenthood. He said, "If the Democrats want to shut down government over this, then it goes to Democrats. The Democrats want to shut down government, we should point the finger and say, 'If you want to shut down the government over spending money on harvesting organs from babies, so be it, but we will take a stand.' I, for one, will take a stand. I have never voted for any funds for Planned Parenthood and I never will....Now some are saying we don't have enough votes. We don't have enough votes to defund Planned Parenthood. That gets it exactly wrong. You have to fund Planned Parenthood. You have to have 60 votes to affirmatively fund Planned Parenthood. So don't accept the notion that we have to get to 60. The other side has to get to 60. The other side has to find 60 votes to fund Planned Parenthood. This is not a problem – they do not have 60 votes to fund Planned Parenthood – as long as we separate the bills and tell them 'You go out and find 60 votes to fund Planned Parenthood.'"[4]
- In an interview on CNN’s "State of the Union" on August 2, 2015, Paul distinguished between the fight over women’s health services and the funding of Planned Parenthood. "I think we can have disputes, you know, over abortion. Our country is divided. Some people are pro-choice, some are pro-life. I think a lot of people are upset by these videos. . . . If you look at this, we have 9,000 community health centers that do everything that Planned Parenthood does, but they don’t get into abortions. It would be much less emotional for everyone if we just funded community health centers and didn't fund Planned Parenthood," Paul said.[5][6]
- On July 24, 2015, Paul claimed credit for fast-tracking legislation to defund Planned Parenthood by invoking Rule 14, which allows a bill to bypass committee consideration and head to the Senate floor for a vote. Paul wrote in a statement, "Since the inhumane acts of Planned Parenthood have surfaced, I have vowed to defeat and defund this taxpayer-funded organization. I am more appalled than ever by Planned Parenthood's complete disregard for the sanctity of human life. Today, I implemented Rule 14 and fast-tracked legislation to strip every dollar of Planned Parenthood funding. I will continue to lead this charge in defense of the unborn.” A spokesperson for Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R) suggested it was McConnell who “started the Rule 14 process on the floor."[7][8]
- On July 22, 2015, Paul introduced an amendment to the highway bill to cut almost $500 million in public funding to Planned Parenthood. Paul said, "The continued disregard and disrespect for human life at Planned Parenthood, a partially taxpayer-funded organization, is shocking and appalling. Recent video revelations, involving potentially criminal activity, make it more obvious than ever that this organization has absolutely zero respect for the sanctity of human life and is an affront to the most basic human dignity enshrined in our founding documents. Not one more taxpayer dollar should go to Planned Parenthood and I intend to make that goal a reality."[9]
- On July 21, 2015, Paul said he would do everything he could to defund Planned Parenthood. He stated in an interview on Fox News, "Everything that Planned Parenthood does other than abortion is done by community health clinics. There is no reason in the world to have Planned Parenthood other than abortion. No taxpayer dollars should go to it because they are indirectly, if not directly, paying for abortion. . . . We should stop all funding for Planned Parenthood."[10]
- On his official website, Paul stated he "believe[d] in the sanctity of life." Paul continued, "Since Roe v. Wade decision, over 50 million children have been killed in abortion procedures. As President, I would strongly support legislation restricting federal courts from hearing cases like Roe v. Wade, in an effort to stop harming the lives of the unborn."[11]
- During an interview on CNN in April 2015, Wolf Blitzer questioned whether Paul followed a more traditional libertarian belief regarding abortion rights. Paul responded, "The thing is, is that there is a role for government in our lives, and the role is basically to prevent violence. And so when a baby is born–I'm a physician and so I examine babies in the neonatal nursery often. Sometimes these babies are one and two pounds. They can fit in the palm of my hand. And everybody agrees that that baby that I examine has rights, that no one can injure that baby, and the government has a role to come even into the household if a mother or dad or a relative is somehow injuring a baby, that the baby has rights. So somehow we have to decide when does a baby get rights? So a one-pound baby has rights, but a seven-pound baby in the uterus still, getting ready to be born or a nine-pound baby would have no rights. It seems like an abrupt sort of diminution of rights that all of a sudden you have rights and then a couple minutes before you didn't have rights." Paul then stated he has voted for and against legislation with exceptions for extenuating circumstances like rape and incest, adding, "Basically, my point of view has been that anything that puts forward and develops and says, 'You know what? There is something special about life, and there's a role for government,' I've supported."[12]
| Paul discusses late-term abortions on CNN in April 2015. |
- In 2014, Paul cosponsored S 946 - No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion Act to prohibit any taxpayer funding of abortions.[13]
- In 2013, Paul sponsored S 583 - Life at Conception Act of 2013, which sought to measure the beginning of life "at the moment of fertilization." The bill did note that new definition should not "be construed to require the prosecution of any woman for the death of her unborn child."[14]
- According to The New York Times in 2009, Paul believed "abortions should be illegal, even in cases of rape, incest or where the life of the pregnant woman is at stake." On March 19, 2013, Paul appeared on "The Situation Room" on CNN, where Wolf Blitzer asked about his no-exceptions position to abortion rights. Paul replied, "Well, I think that once again puts things in too small of a box. What I would say is that there are thousands of exceptions. You know, I'm a physician and every individual case is going to be different, and everything is going to be particular to that individual case and what's going on with that mother and the medical circumstances of that mother."
- Paul's Chief of Staff, Doug Stafford, clarified Paul's position two days later, saying, "Paul meant that a singular exception to save the life of the mother would likely cover thousands of individual cases – for example, ectopic pregnancies or others that directly threaten the mother’s life." Stafford added that this does not apply to "more nebulous 'health of the mother' exception that pro-life advocates argue can be applied to any woman facing an unwanted pregnancy."[15][16][17]
Recent news
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See also
Footnotes
- ↑ Politico, "Rand Paul dropping out of White House race," February 3, 2016
- ↑ Rand Paul U.S. Senator for Kentucky, "Sen. Rand Paul Introduces Life at Conception Act," accessed January 21, 2016
- ↑ The Hill, "Here we go again: Cruz vs. McConnell and Boehner," accessed September 24, 2015
- ↑ WashingtonExaminer.com, "Rand Paul: Blame Dems for shutdown over Planned Parenthood," accessed September 20, 2015
- ↑ The Washington Post, "Rand Paul: Defund Planned Parenthood, fund community health centers instead," August 2, 2015
- ↑ CNN, "Paul: Planned Parenthood 'a front for doing abortions'," August 2, 2015
- ↑ The Hill, "McConnell to fast-track bill to defund Planned Parenthood," July 24, 2015
- ↑ Rand Paul, "Senator Rand Paul Begins Fast-tracking the Defunding of Planned Parenthood," July 24, 2015
- ↑ U.S. Senator for Kentucky, Rand Paul, "Dr. Rand Paul Introduces Amendment to End Taxpayer Funding of Planned Parenthood," July 22, 2015
- ↑ The Daily Signal, "Rand Paul Vows to End Taxpayer Funding of Planned Parenthood," July 21, 2015
- ↑ Rand Paul, "Sanctity of Life," accessed May 26, 2015
- ↑ CNN, "The Situation Room, April 8, 2015," accessed May 26, 2015
- ↑ Congress, “S.946 - No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion Act," archived March7, 2016
- ↑ Congress.gov, "S.583 - Life at Conception Act of 2013," accessed February 13, 2015
- ↑ The New York Times, "In Kentucky, a Senate Candidate With a Pedigree for Agitation," November 25, 2009
- ↑ CNN, "The Situation Room, March 19, 2013," accessed May 26, 2015
- ↑ LifeSiteNews, "Sen. Rand Paul clarifies remarks on abortion, confirms he is 100% pro-life," March 21, 2013
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