Politics

NBC Reporter Made A Demonstrably False Claim During Her Interview With Ron DeSantis

[Screenshot/Twitter/TODAYshow]

[Screenshot/Twitter/TODAYshow]

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Mary Lou Masters Contributor
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  • NBC News’ Dasha Burns claimed that Democrats aren’t pushing for legal abortion up until the moment of birth during an interview with Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis.
  • Despite numerous examples, including Democrats voting for a bill last year to nationalize abortion throughout the entire pregnancy, Burns told DeSantis “there is no indication of Democrats pushing for that.”
  • “We will be a pro-life president and we will support pro-life policies,” DeSantis told Burns. “I will not allow what a lot of the left wants to do, which is to override pro-life protections across the country all the way up until really the moment of birth in some instances, which I think is infanticide.”

NBC News’ Dasha Burns claimed that Democrats are not advocating for legal abortion up until the moment of birth during an interview with Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, but numerous examples contradict that assertion.

DeSantis, who signed a bill banning abortion after six weeks in Florida, told Burns his administration will “support pro-life policies,” and argued the left is trying to “override pro-life protections throughout the country all the way really up until the moment of birth.” Burns claimed DeSantis’ argument was a “misrepresentation” and that Democrat’s aren’t pushing for such a policy, despite Democrats in both chambers of the Legislature backing a bill last year that would have nationalized abortion throughout the entire pregnancy.

Burns argued that only 1.3% of abortions occur at or after 23 weeks gestation, but DeSantis countered that Democrats’ viewpoint is that there should be no “legal protections” up until that point.

“There is no indication of Democrats pushing for that,” said Burns. (RELATED: DeSantis Says ‘Of Course’ Trump Lost The 2020 Election)

Last year, almost every Democrat in both chambers of the Legislature voted for a bill that would have allowed abortion during all nine months of pregnancy, overriding pro-life legislation nationwide. President Joe Biden supported the legislation, and condemned Republicans for blocking the bill that “affirmatively protects access to reproductive health care.”

Biden and White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre continue to refuse to name any limits on abortion that the administration would support.

Colorado Democratic Gov. Jared Polis failed to say whether legislation he had just signed would allow for abortion up until the moment of birth, and proceeded to defend the procedure in the third trimester.

“This is not about the government making that decision, it’s about women making that decision, and to sort of win this battle, it’s about the hearts and minds of women, not the laws of men,” Polis told Fox News’ Shannon Bream last year. “People face gut-wrenching decisions every day, whether it’s rape or incest, often having to choose between the life of the mother or child. For the government to insert itself in that conversation between a doctor and a woman, a faith leader and a woman, is simply wrong.”

In 2019, former Democratic Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam, who is a pediatric neurologist, defended the procedure for born-alive infants, and argued such a decision should not be determined by the government.

“If a mother is in labor … 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,” Northam said on WTOP’s “Ask The Governor” show. “This is why [sic] legislators, most of whom are men, by the way, shouldn’t be telling a woman what she should and shouldn’t be doing with her body.”

Former Democratic New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo signed legislation in 2019 celebrated by party activists that allowed for the procedure after 24 weeks gestation in cases where “there is an absence of fetal viability, or at any time when necessary to protect a patient’s life or health.”

“We will be a pro-life president and we will support pro-life policies,” DeSantis told Burns. “I will not allow what a lot of the left wants to do, which is to override pro-life protections across the country all the way up until really the moment of birth in some instances, which I think is infanticide.”

NBC News did not immediately respond to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s request for comment.

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