House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) pushed back against California Gov. Gavin Newsom’s(D) criticism of the Democratic Party over its approach to the issue of abortion.
During an appearance on “Face the Nation,” host Margaret Brennan played a clip of Newsom’s comments about the issue.
“Where is the Democratic Party?” Newsom said at Planned Parenthood in Los Angeles last week.
He added, “Why aren’t we calling this out? This is a concerted, coordinated effort, and, yes they’re winning. We need to stand up. Where’s the counter-offensive?”
Pelosi responded, saying, “We have been fighting against the Republicans in the Congress constantly.”
She continued, “Because the fact is they’re not just anti a woman’s right to choose in terms of terminating a pregnancy, but in terms of access to contraception and family planning and the rest, both domestically and globally.”
Pelosi argued it is a “constant fight that we’ve had for generations – decades, I should say, in my case, in the Congress.”
She added, “We had been bipartisan early on, support for a woman’s right to choose, until the politics have changed, and that’s what happened to the court. The science hasn’t changed, but the court changed, and therefore they’re deciding that it will be different.”
The House Speaker went on to tell Brennan she has “no idea why anybody would make that statement unless they were unaware of the fight that has been going on.”
Watch Pelosi’s comments below:
Speaker Pelosi responds to California Gov. Newsom criticism of Democrats for not fighting for abortion rights: “I have no idea why anybody would make that statement unless they were unaware of the fight that has been going on.” pic.twitter.com/WPzycSrvHE
— Face The Nation (@FaceTheNation) May 8, 2022
Additionally, Brennan asked Pelosi if it was a mistake for former President Barack Obama and other presidents not to push harder for abortion rights when Democrats had the majority.
“The fact is in ’09 we really did not have a pro-choice Democratic Party. I had to fight against some of the people who did not want to pass the Affordable Care Act because they were concerned that it might enable more freedom of choice. It really didn’t go down that path,” Pelosi said.
She continued, “Right now we do have a pro-choice Democratic Congress and we passed the law months ago.”
.@margbrennan: Should Democrats have fought harder for abortion rights in 2009?
— Face The Nation (@FaceTheNation) May 8, 2022
Speaker Pelosi: “In 2009 we did not have a pro-choice Democratic party…Right now we do have a pro-choice Democratic Congress and we passed the law months ago” pic.twitter.com/almjExDMBt
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) will be forcing a vote on a bill to codify Roe v. Wade this week after a leaked Supreme Court draft decision showed it would overturn the ruling.