Rep. Maxine Waters, D-Calif., dodged a question Wednesday at the Democratic National Convention (DNC) from Fox News Digital about whether she’d support restrictions for late-term abortions, as abortion remains a key platform issue for the party.
“Congresswoman, would you support restrictions for late-term abortions?” Fox News Digital asked Waters, who endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris on day one of the DNC. Waters can be seen on video turning away and ignoring the question.
PLANNED PARENTHOOD OFFERING FREE ABORTIONS, VASECTOMIES AT DNC
Rep. Maxine Waters gestures at the United Center, on the first day of the Democratic National Convention in Chicago, Aug. 19, 2024. (Reuters/Mike Segar)
Abortion has been a central issue of the Democratic Party’s 2024 re-election bid with Harris and Gov. Tim Walz at the top of the ticket, as each night speakers have taken turns calling for expanded federal abortion access. Late-term abortions, which typically occur in the third-trimester, have been an issue often evaded by Democratic lawmakers.
Planned Parenthood’s free mobile clinic, parked just a couple of blocks from the United Center in Chicago – where the DNC is taking place – underscored the Democrats’ message of widespread accessibility to abortion.
The clinic offered free vasectomies and medicinal abortions, and the scene was completed with a taco truck and a 20-foot inflatable IUD. The van was available for the first two days of the convention and said they were fully booked as of Tuesday.
PRO-LIFE GROUPS ANSWER PLANNED PARENTHOOD ABORTION VAN WITH OUTREACH NEAR DNC
Planned Parenthood mobile clinic (Jamie Joseph/Fox News Digital)
Throughout Waters’ 17-term political run, she has supported federal funding for Planned Parenthood and opposed Republican-led bills that sought to defund the organization or impose restrictions on abortion services.
Last year, Waters voted against Republican bill H. R. 26, the Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act, which mandates that health care practitioners provide the same level of care to any child born alive following an abortion attempt as would be given to any other newborn at the same gestational age, and requires immediate hospital admission for such cases.
When Roe v. Wade was overturned in 2022, returning abortion policymaking back to the states, Waters – who has been in Congress since 1991 – was among the Democratic lawmakers lambasting the Supreme Court’s decision.
A Planned Parenthood mobile van offers free vasectomies and medicinal abortions, alongside a taco truck and an inflatable IUD near the Democratic National Convention in Chicago on Tuesday, Aug. 20, 2024. (Fox News Digital)
“Today is a sad and enraging day in our country. The Supreme Court has overturned Roe v. Wade, which has been the law of the land for decades and provided women, non-binary, and transgender individuals the basic human right to choose what happens to their bodies,” Waters said in a statement at the time.
Waters spoke on the DNC stage to delegates on Monday night as she enthusiastically supported Harris, who will deliver a speech Thursday on the final night of the convention, for president.
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“Kamala Harris is our party’s nominee,” Waters said. “Oh, so I know there is no better leader to marshal us into the future.”
“And when the dust settles in November and Americans of all stripes have elected her their president… in that moment, all of us, from New York to Pennsylvania, from Arizona to California, we can ask ourselves, ‘Is this America?’ and we will be able to say loudly and proudly: You’re damn right it is,” she said.