HHS pick Becerra grilled by GOP over abortion, health care experience
FOX News Washington correspondent Rich Edson details Senate hearing on 'Special Report'
Xavier Becerra, President Biden’s nominee to head the Department of Health and Human Services, declined to name any restriction on abortion that he would support when rigorously pressed on the issue during testimony before Senators on Wednesday.
Sen. Steve Daines, R-Mont., asked Becerra point-blank if he would name an abortion restriction that he might support, which the California Attorney General declined to answer.
"Is there any line you would draw?" Daines asked. "Is there just one, just one restriction as it relates to abortion that you might support?"
Becerra repeatedly acknowledged that there are many different viewpoints on the important issue – and he respects all of them. But when it comes to his specific duties as Attorney General or HHS Secretary, it is his job to uphold the law.
"I have tried to make sure that I am abiding by the law because, whether it is a particular restriction or whether it’s the whole idea of abortion, whether we agree or not, we have to come to some conclusion," Becerra explained. "And that’s where the law gives us a place to go."
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Daines noted that he did not get an answer and offered several options of his own, including a ban on the lethal discrimination of babies who are diagnosed with Down syndrome or a ban on sex-selective abortion.
"My job will be to make sure that I am following the law," Becerra responded.
Sen. Mitt Romney, R-Utah, questioned Becerra about late-term abortions on Tuesday, where he gave similar answers.
The issue has become a lightning rod for Republicans for a number of reasons, including that Becerra voted against the "Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act" in 2003.
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