20-Week Abortion Ban ‘Not Realistic’ at Federal Level, Nikki Haley Says

Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley speaks during a campaign event in the New Hampshire Institute of Politics at Saint Anselm College in Manchester, N.H., on Feb. 17, 2023. (Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images)

Nikki Haley, the former South Carolina governor seeking the 2024 Republican presidential nomination, said the unrealistic idea that a Republican president could unilaterally enact a federal ban on abortion is being exaggerated by the media to “divide people further.”

Speaking in an interview with CBS News, Haley was asked about an abortion law she signed as governor in 2016, under which abortion is illegal after 20 weeks of pregnancy, with exceptions if a mother’s life is in danger or the unborn baby cannot survive.

“Face the Nation” host Margaret Brennan asked Haley if she wanted a 20-week ban to be the national standard.

“I think what happened when it went back to the states, now there could be consensus in each state,” Haley replied. “There’s some states that have been pro-life. I welcome that. There are some states that have erred on the side of abortion. I wish that wasn’t the case, but it is. I think that we need to make sure that people’s voices are heard. And I think we need to do this from a humanizing standpoint and not a demonizing standpoint.”

Brennan pressed Haley to clarify whether she would support such a ban at the national level.

In response, Haley said that she simply wants to “tell the American people the truth,” saying that an abortion law like this has no chance making it through a divided Congress in the first place.

“In order to do a national standard, you'd have to have a majority of the House, 60 Senate votes, and a president,” she said. “The idea that a Republican president could ban all abortions is not being honest with the American people, any more than a Democrat president could ban these pro-life laws in the states.”

Republicans Don’t Have the Votes

Haley went on to suggest that Brennan asks President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris where they would draw the line on legal abortion.

“If we’re going to talk about weeks, ask Kamala and Biden: are they good for 35 weeks? 36 weeks? 37 weeks? At what point are they OK?”

At another point of the interview, Brennan pointed to Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.), who has yet to officially join the 2024 presidential primary race but has committed to supporting a nationwide 20-week abortion ban if he becomes president. Haley reiterated that she wants to be honest with Americans about the realities surrounding policy proposals like this.

“I’m not going to lie to the American people. Nothing’s going to happen if we don’t get 60 votes in the Senate,” the former governor said. “We’re not even close to that on the Republican or the Democrat side.”

“Why try and divide people further? Why not talk about the fact that we should be trying to save as many babies as possible and support as many mothers as possible?” she continued. “I think the media has tried to divide them by saying we have to decide certain weeks. In states, yes; at the federal level, it’s not realistic. It’s not being honest with the American people.”

Trump Avoids Definitive Stance

Former President Donald Trump, the leading candidate for the 2024 Republican nomination, has also defended the pro-life movement while avoiding taking a definitive stance on the hypothetical national abortion ban.

During a CNN town hall on May 10 in New Hampshire, Trump didn’t give a straight answer when repeatedly asked whether he would “sign a federal abortion ban into law,” instead saying that he felt proud of the role his three Supreme Court appointees played in the 2022 landmark ruling overturning Roe v. Wade, making way for each state to set its own abortion policy.

“I’m so proud of it. We put three great justices on the Supreme Court,” Trump told host CNN host Kaitlan Collins, referring to Justices Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh, and Amy Coney Barrett.

“President Trump is going to make a determination what he thinks is great for the country and what’s fair for the country,” Trump said, reiterating that he felt honored to contribute to the end of the 50-year federal protection of abortion. “We are in a very good negotiating position right now, only because of what I was able to do.”

“People that will kill a baby in the ninth month or the eighth month or the seventh month, or after the baby is born—they’re the radicals, not the pro-life people,” he added.

In a recent interview with The Messenger, Trump indicated that he believes Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ six-week abortion ban went too far and is unlikely to get enough support to become a national policy.

“If you look at what DeSantis did, a lot of people don’t even know if he knew what he was doing,” Trump said. “But he signed six weeks, and many people within the pro-life movement feel that that was too harsh.”