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Texas gubernatorial candidate Beto O’Rourke, a Democrat, will not say when he believes the cutoff for an abortion should be, or whether he supports any restrictions at all.
Fox News Digital asked O’Rourke’s campaign whether the former congressman and failed Senate candidate believes there should be any limits on abortion.
O’Rourke’s campaign did not answer the question, instead saying the Democrat supports “the standard set” by Roe v. Wade.
VULNERABLE HOUSE DEMOCRATS MOSTLY REFUSE TO SAY WHETHER THERE SHOULD BE ANY LIMITS ON ABORTION
Texas Democratic gubernatorial candidate Beto O’Rourke will not say when he believes the cutoff for abortions should be. (AP Photo/Dario Lopez-Mills)
“Like the vast majority of Texans, Beto has long supported the standard set by Roe v. Wade, which for half a century prohibited states from outlawing abortion in cases where the pregnancy threatened the life of the pregnant woman,” O’Rourke spokesperson Chris Evans said in a statement to Fox News Digital.
“That standard allowed for women and their doctors to make this personal and often painful decision later in the pregnancy if the abortion was necessary to save the woman’s life,” Evans continued.
The Roe v. Wade standard also prohibited restrictions on abortion before fetal viability, or around 24 weeks.
O’Rourke’s campaign did not respond when pressed on whether the Democrat candidate supported any limits on abortion.
O’Rourke is running against incumbent Greg Abbott for Texas governor. (Lynda M. Gonzalez-Pool/Getty Images)
Pro-life groups have been sharply critical of O’Rourke’s stance on the issue.
Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America president Marjorie Dannenfelser told Fox News Digital that the “overwhelming majority of Americans think there should be limits on abortion, yet Democrat candidates like Beto O’Rourke, Tim Ryan, Stacey Abrams and many others can’t name a single limit they support.”
“Our ground team is visiting millions of voters at their homes to educate them on the stakes of the midterm elections and expose the Democrats’ pro-abortion extremism,” she added. “Democrats are making a big mistake thinking they can hide their stance or that it isn’t a political liability.”
March for Life president Jeanne Mancini told Fox News Digital that pro-abortion Democrats “disturbingly voted for the most radical abortion legislation in American history and are threatening to shut down life-affirming pregnancy resource centers, which 76% of Americans support.”
“Nearly every Democrat in the House and Senate is on record in favor of this extreme position that would allow taxpayer-funded abortion on demand up until birth,” Mancini said. “Make no mistake: these wildly out-of-touch politicians refuse to support any common-sense abortion restrictions.”
Fetal viability is a fluid number that depends on the child, but it is generally estimated to be at around 23 to 24 weeks into a pregnancy.
In contrast, many countries around the world have an abortion cutoff of 15 weeks into a pregnancy.
O’Rourke has taken a progressive stance on abortion in his run for the governor’s mansion, recently dodging a question from a reporter on if he would allow restrictions on abortion if elected governor of Texas.
“I trust women and their doctors to make their decisions about their body, about their healthcare and about their future,” O’Rourke said in response.
“I think that is the best, smartest, most constitutional, and most American and Texan approach to this issue,” he continued.
O’Rourke is trailing incumbent Republican Gov. Greg Abbott in their faceoff for the governor’s mansion.
According to a June Quinnipiac poll, the former congressman is behind Abbott on the six issues surveyed for Texas voters except for abortion, where he holds a two-point lead.
The poll said that 59 percent of Texas voters believe that abortion should be legal in at least some circumstances — up from 51 percent in September 2021 — while 35 percent said it should be illegal, down from 43 percent in September 2021.
Twenty-four percent of voters surveyed said abortion should be legal in all cases, while 35 percent said it should only be legal in most cases. Conversely, 23 percent of voters polled believed that abortion should be illegal in most cases, while 12 percent said it should be illegal in all cases.
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Abortion is far from the top of mind for Lone Star State voters, though, with the poll putting the growing crisis at the Texas-Mexico border as the top issue, followed by the economy and gun policy — Beto’s signature issue, in which he is behind by four points.
A recent Fox News poll put inflation as the top issue facing Americans going into the midterm elections.
