Bernie Sanders bristles at third-term abortion question, calls it 'political issue'

By Douglas Ernst - The Washington Times - Tuesday, April 16, 2019

Sen. Bernard Sanders doesn’t want to talk about public policy surrounding third-term abortions because it’s being “made into a political issue.”

The Vermont independent and 2020 presidential hopeful bristled before a Fox News audience when asked if a woman should be allowed to abort a baby “up until the moment of birth.”

The issue has dogged Democrats, in part, due to comments made by Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam in January regarding proposed late-term abortion legislation.

“If a mother is in labor, I can tell you exactly what would happen,” Mr. Northam said at the time. “The infant would be delivered. The infant would be kept comfortable. The infant would be resuscitated if that’s what the mother and the family desired, and then a discussion would ensue between the physicians and the mother.”

Mr. Sanders opted Monday evening to reiterate a broad-based answer.

“Look, I think that that happens very, very rarely and I think this is being made into a political issue,” he told Fox’s Martha MacCallum, the Washington Free Beacon reported. “OK? So I think it’s rare, it’s being made into a political issue, but at the end of the day I believe that the decision over abortion belongs to a woman and her physician, not the federal government, not the state government, and not the local government.”

Science backed by The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists notes that babies during the third term of pregnancy smile, engage in rapid eye movement (REM) during sleep, open their eyes, and make “grasping motions” with their limbs.

“Your baby’s skin has taken color because of the melanin that is now being produced,” the sixth edition of “Your Pregnancy and Childbirth: Month to Month” states. “The lungs are starting to produce surfactant, a substance that’s necessary for the baby’s lungs to function after he or she is born. … At the sound of familiar voices, your baby’s heart rate may decrease, which may mean that your baby is calmed by these sounds.”