Hillary Clinton promises to defend Roe v. Wade, Planned Parenthood

Hillary Clinton.
(Image credit: Drew Angerer/Getty Images)

During Wednesday night's final presidential debate, Hillary Clinton reiterated her support of Planned Parenthood and a woman's right to make her own reproductive choices.

Clinton said she will "defend Roe v. Wade," which "guarantees a constitutional right to women to make the most intimate, most difficult in many cases, decision about her health care that one can imagine." She called out states that are "putting very stringent regulations on women that block them from exercising that choice" and want to defund Planned Parenthood, "which of course provides so many cancer screenings and benefits for women in the country." Moderator Chris Wallace asked Clinton to discuss late-term abortions, and she shared that she has met with women who have had to have one because their "health is in jeopardy" or they were told "something terrible has happened or just been discovered about the pregnancy. I do not think the United States government should be stepping in and making those most personal of decisions. You can regulate if you are doing so with the life and the health of the mother taken into account."

Donald Trump said in response that he thinks it's "terrible if you go with what Hillary's saying, the ninth month, and rip the baby out of the womb of the mother just prior to the birth of the baby. You can say that's OK, Hillary can say that's OK, but it's not OK with me." Clinton sharply rebuked him, saying that is "not what happens in these cases," and said Trump "using that kind of scare rhetoric is terribly unfortunate." Traveling the world as secretary of state, Clinton said she went to countries where "the government either forced women to have abortions, like they used to do in China, or forced women to bear children, like they used to do in Romania, and I can tell you the government has no business in the decision that women make in their families in accordance to their faith with medical advice, and I will stand up for that right."

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Catherine Garcia, The Week US

Catherine Garcia is night editor for TheWeek.com. Her writing and reporting has appeared in Entertainment Weekly and EW.com, The New York Times, The Book of Jezebel, and other publications. A Southern California native, Catherine is a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.