In a 2001 interview, Virginia Democrat Terry McAuliffe, then chairman of the Democratic National Committee, told host Chris Matthews that he supported elective abortion, without a single restriction, throughout all nine months of pregnancy.
“Are you for abortion rights all the way down the line?” Matthews asks McAuliffe, who interrupts the host to respond, “Yes.”
The old interview footage shouldn’t be especially surprising to anyone following McAuliffe’s current gubernatorial campaign in Virginia. In a WVTF radio interview on Monday, the former Virginia governor again implied that he supports abortion without a single legal restriction.
“People on the other side of this issue say, ‘Are there any limits? Like in 2019 there was this controversial Kathy Tran bill that seemed to open the door to abortion right up to the moment of birth,” the host noted. “Is that a bright line? Are there any boundaries that you could see for restrictions on any kind of abortion?”
“Terry McAuliffe, as governor, as I was before, will be a brick wall to protect women’s individual rights,” McAuliffe responded. Just a few years ago, McAuliffe said in another interview that he would’ve supported a heinous bill in Virginia that would’ve legalized abortion up to the moment of birth, including during labor, with no limits, as long as a doctor certified that it was necessary.
As our own John McCormack reported in a piece on the homepage earlier today, McAuliffe refused to tell National Review at a Tuesday press conference whether he would veto permissive abortion legislation in Virginia as governor. From John’s piece:
“I support the existing laws on our books,” McAuliffe told National Review when asked if his position on vetoing Tran’s bill has changed. “The one change I would like to see as governor — and I’ve already talked to [Democratic state] Senator McClellan about it — I want to see a bill sent to me that would enshrine Roe v Wade in the [Virginia] constitution.”
Here’s the short clip of McAuliffe’s 2001 interview with Matthews:
Extremes are called extremes for a reason and they are typically best avoided There is a middle ground but Americans should be forced to read a book on successful win win negotiations before legislating what it is The second trimester with a Doctor statement of necessity is a starting point for discussion with the women’s right governing the first trimester and the hospital emergency care dept governing the third trimester