(CNSNews.com) – Rep. Xavier Becerra (D-Calif.), chairman of the House Democratic Caucus, would not directly answer when asked the yes-no question of whether an unborn child 20 weeks into pregnancy is a human being.
At the U.S. Capitol on Tuesday, Jan. 27, CNSNews.com asked the congressman: “Do you think an unborn child 20 weeks into pregnancy is a human being?”
Becerra said: “You know my wife’s an OB/GYN, and I know having watched as we raise our three daughters, there is no one who knows more about what’s in the best interest of a child than the mother--and I say that as a very proud father and I have total faith when my wife makes a decision. She does it in the best interest of her family and her kids and obviously me as well.”
“So when a woman has to make a decision, I have full faith in what that woman will do because my sense is that, over the millennia, women have had to deal with these issues far more than men,” said Becerra. “And so, when someone says to me that you’re going to put at risk a woman’s health to make a political, social point, it’s just not--I don’t believe we should be legislating what a woman should do. We got to believe that our mothers and our sisters and our daughters know better than a politician in Washington, D.C.”
(Pregnant woman. (AP Photo)
CNSNews.com followed up asking, “But that question aside, just simply, if a child 20 weeks into pregnancy is a human being or not?”
Becerra responded, “I think I’ve given you the answer that a woman’s going to make a decision on what to do with her body. I think she knows far better than I do, especially if she’s pregnant and if she’s going to have a baby.”
“I don’t think we should be legislating what a woman must do especially when it might harm her health, that to me seems to be a tragic result of politicians trying to get in the way of the privacy of an individual, an American,” said Becerra.
“To me--not that most men have a great track record on some of these things when it comes to rearing kids--but I have, as I said, the confidence that most women make the right decision when it comes to what happens with the future of our country,” said the congressman.
The Pain Capable Unborn Child Protection Act, which was under debate on the floor of the House of Representatives last week, would have prohibited the abortion of babies 20 weeks or later into gestation unless they were conceived in rape or incest, or if the life of the mother was at risk.
The bill says that the rape exception would only allow terminating the life of an unborn child at 20 weeks or later into pregnancy if the rape was reported to law enforcement.
The Republican House leadership had initially intended to hold a vote on the bill last week on the anniversary of the Supreme Court’s Roe v. Wade decision, Jan. 22, but delayed it after a debate arose over the reporting requirements in the rape exception.