Not once in any of the five official Democratic Party debates has a question been asked about abortion. This is in sharp contrast to the Republican presidential candidates who repeatedly have been questioned by the media about their positions on abortion, sometimes aggressively so.
A recent Washington Post article, despite coming from a liberal author, admits that the differences between how the candidates are questioned on abortion are legitimate.
The article reports U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio’s comments in the most recent Republican presidential debate surrounding this discrepancy:
Here’s what I find outrageous: There has been five Democratic debates. The media has not asked them a single question on abortion; and on abortion, the Democrats are extremists. Why doesn’t the media ask Hillary Clinton why she believes that all abortion should be legal, even on the due date of that unborn child? Why don’t they ask Hillary Clinton why she believes that partial-birth abortion — which is a gruesome procedure that has been outlawed in this country — she thinks that’s a fundamental right. They are the extremists when it comes to the issue of abortion, and I can’t wait to expose them in a general election.
Rubio has often referenced his belief that Democrats are the extremists on abortion. After Rubio’s strong remarks at the debate, ABC News’ George Stephanopoulos asked Clinton to clarify her position on late-term abortions, but Clinton dodged the question.
Even outside of the debate setting, neither of the Democratic candidates have clarified their position on abortion laws and exceptions. In 2015, for example, U.S. Sen. Rand Paul asked Democrats to answer whether it is okay to “kill a 7-pound baby in the uterus.” Democratic National Committee Chairman Debbie Wasserman Schultz responded with “not a comprehensive answer.”
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The Weekly Standard also reports that it inquired on Clinton’s position on late-term abortion and did not hear back.
The media bias is enough for one pro-life advocate to vociferously complain.
“Not a single question in any of the previous debates has been posed to either Hillary Clinton or Sen. Bernie Sanders on the issue,” Susan B. Anthony List President Marjorie Dannenfelser said in an email to LifeNews. “Americans – including the nearly one-third of Democrats who consider themselves pro-life – deserve to know what limits, if any, they would put on abortion.”
Even extreme abortion advocates should want to know more specifics about where the Democratic presidential candidates stand on abortion policies. The lack of debate questions for the Democratic candidates abortion, especially after Hillary Clinton’s unpopular embrace of repealing the Hyde Amendment, which prohibits direct taxpayer funding of abortion, and her opposition to a widely-supported 20-week abortion ban, is inconsistent and surprising.
