WASHINGTON (AP) 鈥 Some of the Republicans seeking their party's 2024 presidential nomination have said the case of a Texas woman whose health deteriorated as she unsuccessfully sought an abortion should be handled with 鈥渃ompassion,鈥 but they did not criticize the state's law.
It鈥檚 the latest indication that the candidates see the politics surrounding abortion as a delicate 鈥 and fraught 鈥 issue for the GOP after the Supreme Court's reversal of constitutional protections for the procedure helped power Democrats to unexpectedly strong performances in the 2022 midterms.
While campaigning Tuesday, both former United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis expressed sympathy for , a mother of two who sought an abortion after learning the baby she was carrying had a fatal genetic condition and suffering health complications of her own. Her request for an exemption from Texas鈥 ban 鈥 one of the most restrictive in the U.S. 鈥 was ultimately denied by the state Supreme Court, and Cox to seek an abortion elsewhere.
Asked about Cox's case at a CNN town hall, DeSantis, , said that 鈥渢hese are very difficult issues鈥 and pointed to Florida鈥檚 exceptions allowing abortions when the mother鈥檚 life is in danger or for a 鈥渇atal fetal abnormality.鈥
鈥淲e have to approach these issues with compassion,鈥 said DeSantis, though there have been reports in Florida of women under the exception because their doctors, facing steep penalties if they are wrong, were unwilling to perform the procedure. The window of time for is also limited.
Haley also spoke of compassion and suggested Texas' medical board review the case. But she notably did not call for the law to be changed.
鈥淵ou know I鈥檓 pro-life. I welcome the states that have become pro-life. But this is exactly why I鈥檝e said you have to show compassion and humanize the situation," said Haley, who signed abortion restrictions after about 20 weeks into law as South Carolina governor in 2016. 鈥淲e don鈥檛 want any women to sit there and deal with a rare situation and have to deliver a baby in that sort of circumstance, any more than we want women getting an abortion at 37, 38, 39 weeks" 鈥 a rare occurrence generally due to grave medical complications.
President Joe Biden has called the Texas ruling 鈥渟imply outrageous" and said what happened to Cox 鈥渟hould never happen in America, period.鈥
Many Republican lawmakers, meanwhile, have been reluctant to stake out clear positions on what restrictions they support, including and a baby will not survive outside the womb.
Much of that reluctance may be due to public sentiment, which favors abortion rights. An Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research poll this past summer of Americans said abortion should generally be legal. Voters have either affirmed abortion access or turned back attempts to undermine it in all seven states where the question has been on the ballot since Roe v. Wade's reversal.
Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie was alone among the 2024 Republican candidates in declaring that the Texas Supreme Court erred in denying the abortion. He said Texas legislators should change their law.
鈥淚 think the Texas Supreme Court was wrong. And I think that, in a situation like this, you鈥檙e not protecting any life because the child clearly has been diagnosed with having a fatal illness," Christie told The Associated Press on Wednesday. "So all you鈥檙e doing is putting the life of the mother at risk by making her carry it to term.鈥
Former President Donald Trump, who has taken credit for appointing the Supreme Court justices who helped overturn national abortion protections, has not issued any statement on the Texas case, and his campaign did not respond to messages Wednesday inquiring about his stance.
Another GOP presidential candidate, biotech entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy, has not spoken out about Cox鈥檚 case. He said in a video on X, formerly Twitter, on Tuesday night that the Supreme Court was correct to overturn Roe, that states should decide their own abortion restrictions and that Republicans should campaign on the idea of 鈥渟exual responsibility for men鈥 by allowing any woman who carries a pregnancy to term to legally make the father solely responsible for caring for the child.
Cox's case and others like hers 鈥減rove exceptions don't exist in reality,鈥 said Angela Vasquez-Giroux, vice president of communications and research for the national group Reproductive Freedom for All.
鈥淚f politicians like DeSantis and Haley really believed in exceptions and in compassion, they would have been fighting to find ways to work with doctors to clarify these laws and to help people facing these nightmarish situations in their own states to access care," she said. 鈥淭hey threw compassion out the window the moment they signed these bans.鈥
Marjorie Dannenfelser, president of the national anti-abortion group SBA Pro-Life America, also called for 鈥渃ompassion and care and dignity鈥 for the mother and child but said Texas' law gives doctors the ability to perform an abortion if they determine a woman has a life-threatening condition or is in risk of impairment of a major bodily function.
The Texas law, however, is vague on how close to death a patient must be to get the procedure, and lawmakers have refused to clarify and amend the measure.
Christie, who is anti-abortion, nonetheless believes regulations on the procedure should be left to the states, not the federal government.
He said the Texas case demonstrates 鈥渨hy so many people don鈥檛 trust certain members of my party with this issue, because either they are completely unmovable on it, no matter what the facts are, or they say nice words but are unwilling to take a position.鈥
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Fernando reported from Chicago, and Price reported from New York. Associated Press writer Holly Ramer in Manchester, N.H., contributed to this report.
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Meg Kinnard can be reached at
