Roe v. Wade is an 'issue of freedom': Rep. Tim Ryan
Ohio Democratic Senate nominee discusses how the SCOTUS abortion leak affects his pitch to voters on 'Special Report.'
NPR went to bat for Democrats as they refrain from expressing support for any abortion limits as the leaked Supreme Court draft opinion signaling the overturning of Roe v. Wade has fueled a political firestorm.
Last week, Rep. Tim Ryan, D-Ohio, who just clinched the Democratic nomination for the U.S. Senate seat in this year's midterms, appeared on "Special Report" where he was asked if he supported "any limits on abortion."
"Look, I think what we had established in Roe is something that we can continue to work with and I think that those can be the parameters, but then again, if you get rid of what was established law, which was in many ways conservative, to keep that to establish stare decisis and make sure we appreciate the law, if we move away from that, you're going to get states like Ohio that has some of the most extreme laws in the whole country," Ryan responded. "If you're a young girl, and you've been raped and incest, you can't–, the state, the government is going to force you to bring that baby to term, I just don't think that's a fundamental value."
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When pressed by Fox News' Bret Baier on whether he supported limits on abortion, Ryan replied, "Look, you've got to leave it up to the woman..."
"So no is the answer," Baier followed.
"You and I sitting here can't account for all of the different scenarios that a woman, dealing with all the complexities of a pregnancy are going through. How can you and I figure that out?" Ryan told Baier.
U.S. Senate Democratic candidate Rep. Tim Ryan answers a question during Ohio's U.S. Senate Democratic Primary Debate on Monday, March 28, 2022 at Central State University in Wilberforce, Ohio. (AP )
On Saturday, NPR published a story with the headline, "GOP playbook on abortion is to push Democrats on restrictions and contort their words," where NPR senior politics editor and correspondent Domenico Montanaro accused "Republicans and the conservative media" of being "misleading" with their reaction to Ryan's comments.
"Ryan could have been clearer about what restrictions he might specifically support, but he was largely reiterating Roe's tenets about the health of the mother being paramount," Montanaro wrote. "There was also the sense he wasn't comfortable — with two men on television talking about the subject — laying out what those might be. Follow ups with Ryan about how he would vote as a senator are necessary for the voters in Ohio. But the right quickly distorted Ryan's comments."
Montanaro then linked to a tweet from NewsBusters managing editor Curtis Houck show shared a clip of the Fox News exchange and captioned it, "Ohio Democratic senatorial candidate Tim Ryan tells Fox's @BretBaier that there shouldn't be a limit on how late in a pregnancy that a woman could kill her baby." He also shared headlines that read, "Bret Baier Exposes Tim Ryan on Abortion in the 9th Month" and "US Senate Hopeful Tim Ryan Supports Practically No Limits On Late-Term Abortion: 'You Got To Leave It Up To The Woman."
Protestors gather outside the Supreme Court to protest abortion rights (Fox News Digital)
Baier gave Ryan three separate opportunities to say whether he supported any abortion limits, something the Senate hopeful made clear abortion decisions should be left up to the woman.
But Montanaro went on to accuse Fox News' Peter Doocy of "setting up a false premise" at a White House press briefing when he referred to Ryan's comments to White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki in order to get President Biden's stance on abortion limits.
"He supports the right of a woman to make choices about her own body with her doctor," Psaki said.
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"But I know that one of the Democrats that he endorsed and — who won their primary this week, Tim Ryan, said yesterday that he does not support any limits on abortion. Is that where the President's thinking is now?" Doocy asked, later pressing if Biden supports abortion "until the moment of birth."
"The President has stated his view many times… and I would refer you to his own comments about abortion and a woman's right to choose and make decisions about her body with her doctor, which is what any of those women would do," Psaki replied.
White House press secretary Jen Psaki speaks during a press briefing at the White House, Friday, March 4, 2022. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)
Montanaro hit the RNC Research Twitter account for recapping the exchange by paraphrasing Psaki's comments with a "no" response to whether Biden supports any limits on abortions and a "yes" response to whether he supports abortions until the moment of birth.
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"No. Clearly, that's not what was said," Montanaro wrote. "But this is what happens in politics when it comes to abortion. There is common ground on what is a very important and nuanced issue, centering on when an abortion should take place. The overwhelming majority of Americans support keeping abortion legal — with restrictions. But once this subject enters the political arena, that common ground is ignored, reasonable solutions aren't found, and instead, it is weaponized, as a nation waits on how the Supreme Court will actually rule."