Power

Hillary Clinton Addresses Calling a Fetus an ‘Unborn Person’

Clinton faced criticism after saying that “the unborn person doesn’t have constitutional rights,” during a Sunday appearance on NBC.

This week wasn’t the first time Clinton has faced questions about whether a fetus should have constitutional rights. Gage Skidmore / Flickr

Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton in a Tuesday appearance on ABC’s The View addressed her use of the term “unborn person” to describe a fetus.

Clinton faced criticism after saying that “the unborn person doesn’t have constitutional rights,” during a Sunday appearance on NBC’s Meet the Press. Confronting the former secretary of state about the issue, The View co-host Paula Faris asked Clinton, “At what point does someone have constitutional rights, and are you saying that a child on its due date, just hours before delivery, still has no constitutional rights?”

“Under our law, that is the case,” Clinton said. “I support Roe v. Wade because I think it is an important statement about the importance of a woman making this most difficult decision with consultation by whom she choosesher doctor, her faith, her family. And under the law, and under certainly that decision, that is the way we structure it.”

Clinton asserted that she believes a person can be both anti-choice and a feminist. 

“I respect the opinions and beliefs of every woman,” Clinton said. “The reason why being pro-choice is the right way to go is because it is a choice, and hopefully a choice that is rooted in the thoughtfulness and the care that women bring to this decision, so of course you can be a feminist and be pro-life.”

This week wasn’t the first time Clinton has faced questions about whether a fetus should have constitutional rights. Fox News host Bret Baier asked the candidate during a March town hall if she thought “a child should have any legal rights or protections before it’s born.”

“Right now the Supreme Court is considering a decision that would shut down a lot of the options for women in Texas, and there have been other legislatures that have taken similar steps to try to restrict a woman’s right to obtain an abortion,” Clinton said at the time.

“Under Roe v. Wade, which is rooted in the Constitution, women have this right to make this highly personal decision with their family in accordance with their faith, with their doctor. It’s not much of a right if it is totally limited and constrained,” she continued, going on to note that she supported some restrictions on later abortion as long as the restrictions contained exceptions.