Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley called Tuesday for a national consensus on the issue of abortion during a speech from the headquarters of the anti-abortion group SBA List Pro-Life America.
“We have to face this reality,” Haley said. “Pro-life laws that have passed in heavily Republican states will not pass at the federal level. That’s a fact despite what the fearful Democrats say,” the candidate said.
“They say Republicans are about to ban all abortions nationwide and send women to jail. These wildly false claims amplified by a sympathetic media are intended to do nothing more than score political points,” she said.
The candidate called on her counterparts to take a stronger stance on abortion and branded Democratic candidates as extremists. “Political leaders and pro-life candidates should not put up with being demonized. We must denounce the extremism of the left,” she said.
“My goal as president will be the same as it was when I was governor and ambassador: to save as many lives and help as many mothers as possible,” she said.
During the speech, Haley invoked the experience of her husband, who was adopted, and her own, who initially had trouble getting pregnant with her children, as part of her anti-abortion beliefs.
Haley’s comments to SBA Pro-Life America come after the group last week lashed out at former GOP primary front-runner President Trump following his statements that the issue of abortion access should be left to the states and not the federal government.
The group called Trump’s stance a “morally indefensible position for a self-proclaimed pro-life presidential candidate.”
On Tuesday, the Democratic National Committee released a digital video blasting Republican presidential candidates, including Haley, as “extremists.”