Nikki Haley Sees Possibility of a Federal Ban on Late-Term Abortions

Christian Hall
·3 min read
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(Bloomberg) -- A broad agreement could be reached to outlaw late-term abortions in the US, Nikki Haley told Iowa voters as she seeks to project herself as an alternative to her chief opponents, Donald Trump and Ron DeSantis, just a week before the state’s caucuses.

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More restrictive prohibitions, including a six-week ban, however, were unlikely to be enacted by Congress, she cautioned.

“The only way we’re going to do it is if we find consensus on the federal level,” the former South Carolina governor said Monday night at a Fox News town hall in Des Moines. “I think we will find consensus on banning late-term abortions. I think we’ll find consensus on expanding adoption.”

She said allowing medical professionals to refuse to perform abortions because of their beliefs, making contraception accessible and providing legal protections for women who have had abortions could also be areas of agreement.

“We’ll find consensus that no state law should say to a woman that gets an abortion, that she’s going to jail or getting the death penalty,” she said.

As an abortion opponent who says it’s unrealistic to expect Congress to pass a nationwide ban, Haley has attempted to strike a balance on the issue. In the wake of the 2022 Supreme Court ruling overturning a federal guarantee of abortion rights, she prefers that the question be left to the states.

That position has helped her establish inroads among women and more moderate voters who have been alienated by laws and proposals in many states, including Iowa, that have sharply curtailed abortion rights.

The issue promises to be a significant one in the 2024 presidential election, following the landmark Supreme Court decision, Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, that gave each state the power to regulate the procedure.

Earlier: Democrats’ 2024 Plan Aims to Stoke Voter Angst Over Abortion

Democrats pulled off a better-than-expected performance in the 2022 midterm elections as well as in races last fall, in part by appealing to suburban women, independents and young people who were galvanized by the ruling. Republicans have struggled to craft a message appealing to both the majority in their party who support laws prohibiting abortion and those who want a less restrictive approach.

“The fellas just don’t know how to talk about it,” Haley said at the town hall. “Instead of demonizing this issue, you have to humanize this issue and understand that everybody has a story.”

Haley, who is neck-and-neck for second place with Florida Governor Ron DeSantis in the Republican primary race, has won over some women voters in part because of her stance on abortion. DeSantis signed into law a six-week ban in Florida, one of the strictest in the country. Trump, on the other hand, has called some of the new laws “terrible,” yet he not lost the support from anti-abortion activists and continues to enjoy a decisive advantage in polls.

Haley has steadily gained support in the polls over the past few months fueled by strong performances in Republican debates that brought new interest from voters and prominent Wall Street donors looking for alternatives to Trump and President Joe Biden.

She is nearly tied for second place with DeSantis in Iowa, and is comfortably in second place in New Hampshire, according to RealClearPolitics polling averages.

Fox News will host another town hall with DeSantis on Tuesday.

Both Haley and DeSantis are scheduled to appear in a debate on CNN Wednesday evening, the final time the two will share a stage before the Jan. 15 Iowa caucuses. Trump is skipping the event, as he has for the previous four debates, and will instead appear in a Fox News town hall at the same time.

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