\u201cIt\u2019s not a question of me being okay,\u201d Bernie Sanders stated simply when asked on Fox News if there were any circumstance in which he would be okay with abortion being illegal. While this is the answer Sanders gave at Fox\u2019s Democratic \u201cTown Hall\u201d on March 7, 2016, that the government should have no involvement has long been the politician\u2019s stance on the topic of women\u2019s health. Later in the same debate Sanders says, “I happen to believe that it is wrong for the government to be telling a woman what to be doing with her own body.”<\/p>\n
This has been Bernie Sander\u2019s media strategy for some time \u2013 to answer questions on the topic of abortion quickly, firmly, and without question of morality. He keeps himself entirely out of the equation, insisting that the decision to have an abortion is between the individual and their doctor, just as any other medical procedure or treatment would be.<\/p>\n
Largely, Sanders only speaks to the issue of abortion only when asked, answering Rachel Maddow\u2019s inquiry on the topic that \u201cI will do everybody that I can to allow women to make that choice and have access to clinics all over this country.\u201d Unsurprising, considering the many occasions that he has proclaimed himself to be \u201cstrongly pro-choice.\u201d<\/p>\n
Pro-choice is not a distinct political stance on abortion \u2013 the Democratic Party is famously pro-choice. What makes Bernie Sander\u2019s strategy of answering questions on such a delicate subject in such a blunt and factual manner unique is that it contrasts not only with opinions from opposing parties, but with statements made by his competition for the democratic nomination, Hillary Clinton.<\/p>\n
Clinton says that she has been on record supporting a ban on abortions after 20 weeks with exceptions for the life and health of the mother. Regardless of anyone\u2019s stance on the issue, this is clearly a more curated response than Sanders\u2019.<\/p>\n
That is not to say that Bernie Sanders will not go on the offensive to protect abortion rights if necessary. When Donald Trump made a statement that women who seek abortions should be punished, Bernie responded on Twitter that Trump\u2019s stance is \u201cshameful.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe really interesting thing about Bernie Sanders\u2019 stance on abortion is that it\u2019s not his personal view so much as an ideal,\u201d says Rachel Ferrante, a sophomore at Rutgers University. \u201cBernie knows that it doesn\u2019t matter what his own feelings are, and he stands for deregulation of abortion because he knows it is not the government\u2019s place \u2013 or anyone\u2019s place \u2013 to police women\u2019s bodies. He wants to make that very clear, and it has been.\u201d<\/p>\n
Another college age young woman, Anna O\u2019Keefe, a sophomore at Hamilton College weighs in, saying, \u201cHillary is being perfectly reasonable medically, and I don\u2019t actually agree with abortion in most cases. But Bernie knows it\u2019s not his choice, or mine, or anybody\u2019s, really.\u201d O\u2019Keefe goes on to express that Clinton is noticeably trying to be reasonable and empathetic in her stance. Sanders\u2019 media strategy regarding abortion is unique in its staunch simplicity.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
\u201cIt\u2019s not a question of me being okay,\u201d Bernie Sanders stated simply when asked on Fox News if there were any circumstance in which he would be okay with abortion being illegal. While this is the answer Sanders gave at Fox\u2019s Democratic \u201cTown Hall\u201d on March 7, 2016, that the government should have no involvement has long been the politician\u2019s stance on the topic of women\u2019s health. Later in the same debate Sanders says, “I happen to believe that it is wrong for the government to be telling a woman what to be doing with her own body.” This has been Bernie Sander\u2019s media strategy for some time \u2013 to answer questions on the topic of abortion quickly, firmly, and without question of morality. He keeps himself entirely out of the equation, insisting that the decision to have an abortion is between the individual and their doctor, just as any other medical procedure or treatment would be. Largely, Sanders only speaks to the issue of abortion only when asked, answering Rachel Maddow\u2019s inquiry on the topic that \u201cI will do everybody that I can to allow women to make that choice and have access to clinics all over this country.\u201d […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2456,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[191],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2536","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-post-by-tcnjs-best-election-team"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/pearson.immtcnj.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2536","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/pearson.immtcnj.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/pearson.immtcnj.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/pearson.immtcnj.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2456"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/pearson.immtcnj.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2536"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/pearson.immtcnj.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2536\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2537,"href":"http:\/\/pearson.immtcnj.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2536\/revisions\/2537"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/pearson.immtcnj.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2536"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/pearson.immtcnj.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2536"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/pearson.immtcnj.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2536"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}