Chris Christie said Thursday New Hampshire voters would be “really concerned” about GOP presidential rival Marco Rubio’s stance on abortion.
“On the issue of pro-life, Marco Rubio is not for an exception for rape, incest or life of the mother. I think that’s the kind of position that New Hampshire voters would be really concerned about,” Christie said Thursday on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe.”
“I’m pro-life but I believe that rape, incest and the life of the mother — as Ronald Reagan did — should be exceptions to that rule,” he added.
Rubio vocalized his opposition to exceptions for abortions during the first Fox News debate held in August 2015, pushing back on Fox News host Megyn Kelly’s suggestion that he supported them in the cases of rape and incest.
“I have never said that. And I have never advocated that,” Rubio said. “What I have advocated is that we pass law in this country that says all human life at every stage of its development is worthy of protection. In fact, I think that law already exists. It is called the Constitution of the United States.”
“I believe that every single human being is entitled to the protection of our laws, whether they can vote or not. Whether they can speak or not. Whether they can hire a lawyer or not. Whether they have a birth certificate or not,” he added. “And I think future generations will look back at this history of our country and call us barbarians for murdering millions of babies who we never gave them a chance to live.”
Rubio elaborated during a subsequent appearance on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” “Fortunately, the number of abortions in this country that are due to rape are very small, less than 1% of the cases in the world.”
According to an August CNN/ORC poll, 80% of respondents said they believed in allowing legal abortion in cases of rape or incest, compared with 18% who said they did not.